RUSSIAN INVESTIGATORS were yesterday hunting for the bomber responsible for Friday’s train crash, in which 25 people died and nearly 100 were injured when their luxury express travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg was blown off the rails.
Russia’s interior minister, Rashid Nurgaliev, said investigators were following several leads. They were attempting to trace suspects spotted in the village near the site of the crash, including a stocky man with red hair.
Mr Nurgaliev said his officers were preparing to release a photo-fit of the man, aged about 40, but cautioned: “This is preliminary information. We need to verify it.”
Sources said locals had noticed strangers in the sparsely populated rural district in the Tver region.
The Nevsky Express was carrying 682 passengers and 22 crew at the time of the attack. It was derailed at 9.34pm, close to the village of Uglovaka, 250 miles northwest of Moscow.
Another body was recovered from the wreckage yesterday. Some 92 injured passengers were being treated in hospital and 12 people were unaccounted for, officials said.
On Saturday, the head of Russia’s FSB counter-terrorism agency, Alexander Bortnikov, said a powerful improvised bomb caused the derailment, sending the last three wagons of the 14-carriage train hurtling off the rails.
The Kremlin has declined to say who it believes carried out the bombing amid speculation that it was the work of Chechen rebels. On Saturday a radical neo-Nazi group, Combat 18, also claimed responsibility.
– (Guardian service)