Volgograd suicide bombers identified

Moscow, Jan 30 (IANS/ITAR -TASS) The perpetrators behind the twin suicide attacks in the southern Russian city of Volgograd late last month have been identified and the criminals who helped them enter the city have been detained, the country's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Thursday.

"Within investigation of the criminal case, which was opened over the terrorist acts staged in the city of Volgograd Dec 29 and 30, 2013, two suicide bombers, members of the so-called Buinaksk terrorist group, Asker Samedov and Suleiman Magomedov, who committed the bombings, were identified. For operative reasons their names were not made public officially earlier," the committee told ITAR-TASS.

Dozens of people were killed and many others injured when the city's railway station was bombed Dec 29 and a bus was ripped apart Dec 30, raising fears of Islamist attacks on the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.

The committee also said that two brothers, Magomednabi and Tagir Batirovs, who helped the terrorists enter Volgograd, were detained in a search operation Wednesday in Russia's North Caucasian Republic of Dagestan and "procedural action is being taken".

The search for other accomplices, including the masterminds behind the attacks continues, it added.

--IANS/ITAR-TASS

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