MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The explosive device that went off in St. Petersburg subway, was similar to the one found at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station and defused, a source in law-enforcement agencies told TASS.
"The power of the self-made explosive device that went off, is around 200-300 grams of TNT equivalent. The device is similar to that defused at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station," he said, adding that "the bomb contained lots of striking elements."
According to the source, the preliminary data suggests that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber. "There was a suicide bomber, judging by injuries. He either had the device attached to the body, or it was in the backpack, or he had it in his hands," he said.
The suicide bomber has been preliminarily identified, "he is indeed a native of the Central Asia and had ties with Syrian militants," the source said.
An unidentified device went off at about 14:40 Moscow time on Monday in a subway train car when the train was moving from Tekhnologichesky Institut Station to Sennaya Ploshchad Station. The Russian Investigative Committee has qualified the blast as a terrorist attack, but other versions are looked into. According to the latest data provided by the National Anti-terrorist Committee, the blast claimed 11 lives. Forty-five people were injured.