St Petersburg metro attack: Russia police arrest eight

Eight people are being held in connection with the bombing 
on St Petersburg metro, Russian investigators have confirmed.

The arrests - six in Moscow, two in St Petersburg - came 
three days after 13 people were killed in the attack.

Earlier on Thursday, an explosive device was made safe in a flat in St Petersburg by Russian police.

Neighbours were moved away and witnesses told local 
media they saw men led out in handcuffs.

The main suspect in the metro bombing, Akbarzhon 
Jalilov, also died in the explosion.

He was aged 22 and from the Central Asian republic of
Kyrgyzstan. His remains were identified by his parents on
Wednesday, and by DNA testing.

Russian investigators are examining tape, tin foil and some other suspicious items found at Jalilov's St Petersburg flat.

Russia's Investigative Committee (SK) says they appear similar to components found in a device left at Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station on the day of the bombing.

The flat raided at around 05:00 local time (02:00 GMT) 
on Thursday was in Tovarishchesky Prospekt in the east 
of St Petersburg. "An explosive device found in the flat has been made safe.

Several suspects have been arrested; they didn't resist 
and there's now no threat to local people," the head of the local authority Konstantin Serov was quoted as saying.

Sources told Interfax news agency that investigators
 were examining possible links between the men and the alleged bomber.

Russia's Investigative Committee (SK) said on Thursday
 they had established that "several citizens of Central Asian republics were in contact with Jalilov".

Eight people from Central Asia were also arrested in the 
city on Wednesday as part of the metro bomb investigation.

 The SK said they were held for allegedly recruiting for
 Islamist militant groups such as so-called Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra since 2015, and "committing crimes of a terrorist nature".

The SK has named the 13 people who died, aside from
 Jalilov, on Monday afternoon after the train had left 
Sennaya Ploshchad station. About 50 injured are being 
treated in hospital.


The dead were named as:

Irina Medyantseva, 50, who died as she tried to shield her
daughter from the explosion, according to reports in Russia.

Her daughter Yelena, 29, was treated for her injuries in
hospital and her condition was said to be stable

Dilbara Alieva, 20, from Azerbaijan, who was taken to hospital
but later died from her injuries

Maxim Aryshev, a 20-year-old Kazakh citizen and student at
St Petersburg state university



Yury Nalimov, 71

Ksenia Malyukova, 18

Angelina Svistunova, 27

Oksana Danilenko, 25

Larisa Shchekina, 66

Denis Petrov, 25

Mansur Sagadeev, 16 or 17

Dmitry Mazanov, 27

Yulia Krasikova, 25

Maria Nevmerzhitskaya (53)