10 killed, many wounded in St. Petersburg Metro blast

St. Petersburg: A bomb ripped through a subway train in St. Petersburg on Monday afternoon, killing 10 people and injuring dozens more. The explosion occurred on a subway train travelling between the Technology Institute and Sennaya Square stations. At the time of the attack, President Vladimir Putin was a few miles away in St. Petersburg, his hometown and the country’s second-largest city, on official business.

Authorities shut down the Metro system in St. Petersburg as security services said they had also defused a bomb at a second Metro station.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was probing an “act of terror” but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast.

“The causes of this event have not been determined yet, so it’s too early to talk about (possible causes). The investigation will show. Certainly, we will consider all variants, common, criminal, first of all, of a terrorist nature,” Mr Putin said.

According to the Independent, ISIS supporters were cheering what they claimed was a terror attack, and sharing images of people caught up in and killed by the blasts.

Some posters on ISIS forums linked the explosions to Russia’s backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting ISIS and other groups in the Syrian civil war.

The bomb, a homemade device filled with shrapnel, exploded in the third car just after the train had entered the tunnel.

Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform.

PM Narendra Modi tweeted, “Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the blasts at St. Petersburg metro. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.”