RUSSIAN investigators named the bomber behind the St Petersburg metro blast as Akbarjon Djalilov, adding that he had also planted a second bomb that was defused by the authorities.

“The investigation identified the man who set off the bomb in the carriage of the St Petersburg metro. It was Akbarjon Djalilov,” a statement by the Investigative Committee said.

The investigators’ statement added that traces of DNA from Djalilov, 22, were also found on a bag with a second explosive device that was discovered at another metro station shortly before the blast in the tunnel that killed 14 people and wounded 50 others.

“The conclusion of genetic evaluation and footage from surveillance cameras enable the investigation to conclude that the man who carried out the act of terror on the carriage was the one who left the bag with the explosive device in the Vosstaniya Square station,” it said.

Investigators gave no further details on Djalilov but his name and year of birth coincided with a statement from the Kyrgyz security services which said earlier yesterday that he was a naturalized Russian citizen originally from mainly Muslim Kyrgyzstan.

Investigators said earlier that remains of the carriage bomber had been found at the scene of the blast, but it was not clear if he is included in the official toll of the attack.

Djalilov had radical Islamist links, Russian media cited law enforcement officials as saying, raising the possibility the attack could have been inspired by Islamic State, which has not struck a major city in Russia before.

The Kyrgyz GKNB security service also identified the suspect as Akbarjon Djalilov, born in the city of Osh in 1995, but provided no other details.

The explosion occurred when the train was in a tunnel deep underground, amplifying the force of the blast. The carriage doors were blown off, and witnesses described seeing injured passengers with bloodied and blackened bodies.

The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said on Monday that an explosive device had been found at another station, hidden in a fire extinguisher, but it had been defused.

It said no arrests had been made.

Russia has been on alert against attacks in reprisal for its military intervention in Syria, where Moscow’s forces have been supporting troops loyal to President Bashar Assad against Western-backed armed groups as well as the hardline Islamic State which grew out of the conflict.

Islamic State, now under attack by all sides in Syria’s multi-faceted war, has repeatedly threatened revenge and been linked to recent bombings elsewhere in Europe.

If it is confirmed that the metro bomber was linked to radical Islamists, it could provoke anger among some Russians at Moscow’s decision to intervene in Syria, a year before an election which President Vladimir Putin is expected to win.

Officials said they were treating the blast as an act of terrorism, but that there was no official confirmation of any link to Islamist radicals.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was cynical to say the bombing in St Petersburg was revenge for Russia’s role in Syria. He said the attack showed that Moscow needed to press on with its fight against global terrorism.

A page on social media site VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, belonging to someone with the same name and year of birth as Djalilov, included photos of him relaxing with friends in a bar, smoking from a hookah pipe. He was dressed in jackets and a baseball cap, and showed no outward sign of any religious affiliation.

When a reporter visited a house in Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan, which neighbors said was the Djalilov family home, the modest but well-maintained one-story brick building was empty.

Neighbors said Djalilov was from a family of ethnic Uzbeks, and that while they knew his parents, they had not seen the young man for years. They said his father worked as a panel-beater in a car repair shop.

Osh is part of the Fergana Valley, a fertile strip of land that straddles Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan which is mainly populated by ethnic Uzbeks. It has a tradition of Islamist radicalism and hundreds of people have set out from the area to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

A blast at a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve that killed 39 people involved a suspect from the same part of central Asia. The bomber in that attack said he had been acting under the direction of Islamic State militants in Syria.

Two acquaintances of Djalilov’s said he moved to St Petersburg several years ago. One of the acquaintances said he had worked with Djalilov in a chain of sushi restaurants in the city between late 2012 and late 2013. The second said he had seen Djalilov in the crowd at sambo matches in St Petersburg. Sambo is a Russian martial art.

Djalilov has been registered at an apartment in the north of St Petersburg since 2011, according to a source in the Russian authorities, and he has a Daewoo Nexia car registered in his name.

The apartment is in a brand-new 16-story building with its own security guards and a gated garden, jewelry shops, a wine store and a bank on the ground floor.

The head of the local apartment-owners cooperative, Lyudmila Morozova, said the owner of the apartment was renting it out to tenants, but she said she did not know if Djalilov was one of the tenants. She said state investigators had visited the apartment on Monday evening.

St Petersburg television showed footage of the corpse of a bearded man they said was the perpetrator.

President Putin, who was visiting St Petersburg at the time of the blast, visited the scene on Monday.

The Kremlin said it was “noteworthy” that Putin had been in the city. It did not elaborate, but said such attacks on Russia were a challenge for every citizen, including the president.

Two years ago, Islamic State said it had brought down a plane carrying Russian tourists home from a Red Sea resort. All 224 people on board the flight were killed.

Monday’s blast raised security fears beyond Russian frontiers. France, which has itself suffered a series of attacks, announced additional security measures in Paris.