St Petersburg Metro Explosion Kills Fourteen People and Injures 49

Monday’s St Petersburg metro was caused by a bomb that was possibly detonated by a man whose body parts were found on the train, Russia's investigative committee has said.

Fourteen people died and 49 were injured in the explosion between two underground stations.

"The man has been identified but his identity will not be disclosed for now in the interests of the investigation," a committee charged with investigating the incident  said in a statement.

Kyrgyzstan's security service has named him as Akbarzhon Jalilov.

It said he was born in the Kyrgyz second city of Osh in 1995 and had obtained Russian citizenship.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was at his home in St Petersburg when the blast occurred. He visited a makeshift shrine at the scene of the attack on Monday.

The attack raises fears that the Russian government will begin a fervent crackdown on terrorism.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldayev on Tuesday, said the attack "once again shows the importance of stepping up joint efforts to combat this evil".

Putin has in the past justified crackdowns on civilian protests by citing the terror threat. There are thoughts that this time could be more stringent and, overall, more “successful”.

There are now conspiracies circling who ordered the bombing. At least one pro-Kremlin commentator has linked the attack to the recent mass demonstrations organised by Putin's political opponent.

The next presidential elections in Russia  is set to take place in March 2018.

President Vladimir Putin's main political opponent is Opposition Party leader, Alexei Navalny. Navalny was arrested on last week following a number of anti corruption rallies.

This comes just two weeks after the terror attack in front of parliament  on London’s Westminster bridge.

Though it was initially reported that ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attack, Metropolitan Police have said that there is no evidence of a link between terrorist organization and  the London incident.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she had written to President Putin to offer her condolences.

"This shows the terrible terrorist threat that we are all facing," she added.

"I'm very clear, as the people of the UK were after the attack in London, that we will prevail. The terrorists will not win."

Currently, no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing though two attacks in 2010 and 2011 that killed 65 people were claimed by Islamist groups.

Loren Williams