Russian law enforcement agencies are checking a suspicious object at an apartment building in Saint Petersburg following a suicide bombing on the city’s subway earlier in the week. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said, according to Russian news agencies, that the object found early today in an apartment building on Saint Petersburg’s eastern outskirts could contain explosives. Residents have been evacuated and explosives experts have started working on the site.

Police in the city are on high alert following Monday’s explosion that killed the attacker and 13 other people and wounded some 55. Police yesterday arrested eight Central Asian migrants suspected of acting as recruiters for the Islamic State group and al-Qaida’s Syria branch. The investigators found no immediate evidence of their involvement in the subway attack. </s> ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA—Russian security agents on Thursday arrested three people suspected of links to a suicide bomber accused of attacking the city’s subway and deactivated an explosive device in the apartment where they lived.The Investigative Committee said the suspects are residents of the former Soviet Central Asia region like the bomber, 22-year-old Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, a native of Kyrgyzstan. Dzhalilov blew himself up on a busy subway line Monday, killing himself and 13 others and wounding over 50 people.The impoverished, predominantly Muslim countries in Central Asia are seen as fertile ground for Islamic extremists, and thousands of their citizens are believed to have joined Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Syria and Iraq.Read more:Suicide bomber behind St. Petersburg subway explosion, Russian investigators sayThe committee, the nation’s top criminal investigation agency, said investigators also found objects that would help advance the probe during a search of the home on St. Petersburg’s eastern outskirts.Article Continued BelowPeople gather to commemorate the victims of the subway blast at The Field of Mars in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday. The bombing killed 13 people and wounded over 50. (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES) The Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that its experts defused a self-made explosive device at the apartment. The news reports said three people were arrested.A leading St. Petersburg news portal, Fontanka.ru, said materials used in the explosive device found Thursday matched those used by militants in Syria.An unidentified law enforcement official told the Tass news agency that investigators were checking information that Dzhalilov may have trained with Daesh in Syria. </s> Authorities in the Russian city of St. Petersburg say an explosive device has been discovered in an apartment building and defused.

Officials said they evacuated residents from the building after the device was found on April 6, three days after a bomb blast on a St. Petersburg subway train killed 14 people and injured nearly 50.

Konstantin Serov, head of the city's Nevsky district, said investigators continued to work on the building's eighth and ninth floors after residents on lower floors were allowed to return.

Serov said that the one-room apartment where the device was found was used by people who were not the owners.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax </s> ST PETERSBURG, April 6 (Reuters) - Russian authorities have made safe an explosive device found in a residential building in St Petersburg, the TASS news agency reported on Thursday.

A law enforcement source told Reuters that fire engines had turned up at the building in question and that people living in flats on two stairwells had been evacuated.

The city is still reeling after a bomb ripped through the St Petersburg metro on Monday, killing 14 people. (Reporting by Polina Nikolskaya; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Andrew Osborn) </s> SAINT PETERSBURG: The Russian authorities on Friday (Apr 7) charged eight people with terrorism offences following the bomb attack on the Saint Petersburg metro which killed 13 people on Monday.

A court in Saint Petersburg said six suspects, aged 20 to 39, would be held until Jun 2 while the investigation into the attack continued.

They were arrested Thursday, and investigators said they found in one of the suspects' residences an explosive device "identical" to the one found at a metro station that was discovered shortly before another device exploded in a tunnel.

They also recovered firearms and ammunition from the suspects' residences, according to Russia's Investigative Committee. They face charges of terrorism and accessory to terrorism.

Two other suspected accomplices, a man and a woman, were arrested in Moscow on Thursday and have also been charged with terrorism, the TASS news agency said.

One of those, a 24-year-old, had admitted to being in contact with the suspected bomber, 22-year-old Akbarjon Djalilov, according to local press reports.

Djalilov's remains were found at the site of the blast and traces of his DNA were also discovered on a bag containing the bomb at another metro station that was successfully defused, investigators said.

They have not yet determined any motive for the attack, and are looking into possible links with the Islamic State group, though it has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

Security forces also arrested Wednesday in Saint Petersburg seven citizens from Central Asian countries who are suspected of recruiting "terrorists".

But the arrests are not linked to Djalilov "for the moment", the authorities said. </s> MOSCOW - Eight people suspected of involvement in the Saint Petersburg metro bombing were detained Thursday, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

“Six people were detained in Saint Petersburg and two in Moscow who are involved in the act of terror” following an investigation and search operation conducted with the FSB security service and interior ministry, the committee said in a statement.

Investigators said they discovered, in one of the suspects’ residences, an explosive device “identical” to the one found at a Saint Petersburg metro station that was discovered shortly before another device exploded in a tunnel killing 13 people. They also recovered firearms and ammunition from the suspects’ residences, the committee said.

The committee said a court will soon rule on detention measures for the eight suspects, who seem to bear Central Asian names.

Investigators said earlier Thursday that they had raided the flat of “several citizens of Central Asian republics, who had been in contact” with the suspected bomber, 22-year-old Akbarjon Djalilov.

They confiscated other objects “relevant to the investigation” at his acquaintances’ flat but did not disclose their nature.

Investigators said Djalilov — believed to be a Russian citizen born in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan — had set off a bomb in a train carriage travelling between two busy Saint Petersburg metro stations on Monday afternoon.

His remains were found at the site of the blast and traces of his DNA were also discovered on a bag containing the bomb at another metro station that was successfully defused, investigators said.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin has ordered officials to look into any potential “links” between the alleged attacker and the Islamic State group.

Jihadists from IS - which includes foreign fighters from ex-Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus region - have repeatedly threatened an attack on Russian soil in revenge for Moscow’s military backing of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Monday's bombing injured 50 people

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.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The bomb went off between two stations but the driver continued to Tekhnologichesky Institut

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.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Ulvi Fatullayev describes the moments after Monday's blast

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: </s> Russian authorities have made safe an explosive device found in a residential building in St. Petersburg, the TASS news agency reported on Thursday.

A law enforcement source told Reuters that fire engines had turned up at the building in question and that people living in flats on two stairwells had been evacuated.

The city is still reeling after a bomb ripped through the St. Petersburg metro on Monday, killing 14 people.

An explosion in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don early Thursday, injured one person, a law enforcement source told TASS.

REN-TV cited witnesses as saying that the explosion happened near a school on Sadovaya Street and that a maintenance worker was injured in the blast. </s> April 3 marks the one-year anniversary of the terror bombing that killed 15 people in a subway car traveling between two St. Petersburg metro stations. Investigators suspect 22-year-old Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, of being the man who detonated the homemade explosive.

Investigators have identified the organizers of the St. Petersburg metro bombing a year after the tragedy, saying their investigation into the terrorist attack is drawing to a close.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said Tuesday it has “identified the entire chain of persons involved in the perpetration of this crime, including its instigator, organizer and executors” jointly with the FSB.

“The terror attack was carried out by members of a radical Islamic terrorist group,” investigators said in an online statement Tuesday, adding that 11 suspects were being held in connection with the bombing.

The investigation said that the plotters were not personally acquainted with one another and had used online forms of communication to organize the attack.

“A thorough analysis of so called ‘electronic trails,’ which are left after these forms of communication, allowed [investigators] to expose and identify all of the members of the criminal group in the shortest time,” the statement said.



An ongoing legal dispute between the FSB and the encrypted messaging service Telegram over access to the St. Petersburg bombing suspects’ online conversations has threatened the app’s presence in Russia. </s> NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities are looking for a naturalized Afghanistan citizen for questioning in a weekend explosion in a Manhattan neighborhood that injured 29 people as the governor conceded Monday that investigators could no longer rule out international terrorism.

The man sought for questioning was identified as 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he could be armed and dangerous.

“We need to get this guy in right away,” de Blasio said on CNN. “My experience is one the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them.”

Cuomo had said Sunday that there was no evidence to suggest that the bombing was related to international terrorism, but he appeared to walk that back Monday.

“Today’s information suggests it may be foreign related, but we’ll see where it goes,” he said.

Authorities were still working to determine whether there is a connection between multiple explosive devices found over the weekend in two states: the Manhattan explosion, an unexploded pressure cooker device blocks away, a pipe bomb blast at a Jersey shore town and five explosive devices at a New Jersey train station.

On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped “a vehicle of interest” in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser.

She wouldn’t provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation.

No one has been charged with any crime, and the investigation is continuing, Langmesser said.

Cuomo, touring the site of Saturday’s blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, said the unexploded pressure cooker device appeared “similar in design” to the bomb that exploded in Chelsea, but he didn’t provide details.

On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. The discovery of Tannerite may be important as authorities probe whether the two New York City devices and the pipe bomb at the Jersey shore are connected.

Cellphones were discovered at the site of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The pipe bomb exploded Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was canceled and no one was injured.

Late Sunday, five suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a trash can by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. One of the devices exploded as a bomb squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate word on whether the devices were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City.

Officials haven’t revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it. On Sunday night, police blew up the device, rendering it safe. A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said.

Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260.

On Sunday, a team of five FBI agents searched an Uber driver’s vehicle that had been damaged in the Manhattan blast. The driver had just picked up three passengers and was driving when the explosion occurred, shattering the car’s windows and leaving gaping holes in the rear passenger-side door.

The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a week earlier and that was schedule to hold a United Nations meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis in Syria.

Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered storefront windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighborhood on the city’s west side.

One New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, was in his apartment when the blast went off. At first he thought it was thunder and lightning.

“Then all of a sudden, car horns went off, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, this isn’t lightning. This is too loud,” Stanhope said. “This is a bomb.”

Caldwell reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Karen Matthews, Maria Sanminiatelli, Michael Balsamo and Dake Kang in New York and Eric Tucker and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.

Crime scene investigators work at the scene of Saturday's explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) Crime scene investigators work at the scene of Saturday's explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) In this Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016 frame from video provided by Orangetheory Fitness Chelsea, a door shatters after an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York. Investigators scrambled Sunday to find out who planted a bomb that rocked Chelsea, scouring shrapnel, forensic traces and surveillance video. (Orangetheory Fitness Chelsea via AP) In this Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016 frame from video provided by Orangetheory Fitness Chelsea, a door shatters after an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York. Investigators scrambled Sunday to find out who planted a bomb that rocked Chelsea, scouring shrapnel, forensic traces and surveillance video. (Orangetheory Fitness Chelsea via AP) This undated photo provided by the FBI shows Ahmad Khan Rahami. The New York Police Department said it is looking for Rahami for questioning in the New York City explosion that happened Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. (FBI via AP) This undated photo provided by the FBI shows Ahmad Khan Rahami. The New York Police Department said it is looking for Rahami for questioning in the New York City explosion that happened Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. (FBI via AP)
Russian authorities discover and deactivate an explosive device in a Saint Petersburg flat, during ongoing raids occurring in response to the bombing.