Suspects arrested over deadly bomb blast at Belarus metro station

[News_Editor]

Suspects arrested over deadly bomb blast at Belarus metro station

2011-04-13 00:06:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

MINSK, BELARUS (BNO NEWS) -- Belarus Deputy Attorney General Andrey Shved on Tuesday said that some suspects were arrested in relation with the deadly bomb blast at a Minsk metro station.

According to Belapan news agency, Shved, the leader of the team investigating the blast, did not disclose the identity or the number of the detained suspects. He informed that a team of Russian experts will arrive on Wednesday to aid in the investigation.

On Monday evening, a powerful bomb blast ripped through a metro station in Minsk causing the death of 12 people and injuring about 149 more. The explosion happened at around 5.56 p.m. local time at the Oktyabrskaya metro station in Minsk, not far from the presidential residence.

The State Security Committee of Belarus (KGB) on Tuesday announced that it is considering three possible reasons behind the terror attack: destabilization of the nation, vendetta by a extremist organization, and actions of a sick individual.

Vadim Zaitsev, Chairman of KGB, said that the first scenario is a possibility as "at present someone doesn't like the way of life and the model of the Belarusian society" but he did not name a specific individual.

The second scenario is related to the recent presidential elections that resulted in mass riots last December. Zaitsev announced that extremist youth organizations are being investigated to determine if they were involved in the attack.

"We are doing our best to expedite the investigation and make the guilty ones responsible," said Zaitsev. "Tight cooperation with experts of Russia's FSB is being maintained. Belarus will not turn down the offer because terrorist attacks are not limited to a nationality or by borders."

The KGB head also announced that its agency has compiled a composite facial image of the man, who is suspected of directly executing the terrorist attack in Minsk's metro. The alleged suspect is believed to be a young man with non-Slavonic outlook, heavy-built and less than 27 years of age.

He was wearing a brown jacket and a brown knitted cap on Monday and the explosive device was remotely controlled. The bomb included a "large number of destructive agents, including various used odd-shaped metal objects."

With the exception of the 2008 bomb blast and two non-fatal bomb blasts in 2005, Belarus is fairly unknown to terrorism and Monday's attack was the first fatal terrorist attack in the country's modern history. There are no known terrorist groups which target Belarus specifically.

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