Moscow, January 28: Russian authorities are now confident that the organizers of Monday’s suicide bombing at Domodedovo airport came from the North Caucasus, and identified a so-called Russian Wahhabi — a convert to Islam who joined a jihadi militant cell — as the possible bomber, Russian news services reported Thursday.
The authorities have compiled a list of up to 10 suspects, a police official told RIA-Novosti on condition of anonymity. Only one name has been leaked — that of Vitaly Razdobudko, a man in his early 30s. But though Mr. Razdobudko’s photograph aired on all of Russia’s nightly news programs, no official would confirm that he was a suspect.
Scant and contradictory information has emerged about the identity of the bomber, who set off powerful explosives in a crowd of people waiting to greet international passengers. Russian authorities have identified 35 people killed by the blast, saying Wednesday that only the suicide bomber remained unidentified.
After signing a bill to create a federal transport security agency, President Dmitri A. Medvedev on Thursday made a televised visit to a subway station, where he was shown testing security equipment. But the city remained on edge. Ilya Yashin, an opposition activist, complained that the information vacuum surrounding the investigation was encouraging conspiracy theorists.
“The silence of the authorities and their unwillingness to answer questions contributes to the growth of distrust and animosity in the population,” he wrote on his blog.
One official, speaking at a public meeting, fumed at speculation appearing in the press.
“There’s an investigation going on,” said Andrei Przhezdomsky, a member of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee. “Only the Investigative Committee can say how and what. Everyone else needs to be quiet.”
Late on Thursday, police sources told Interfax that there were still several active theories. The police have focused on Mr. Razdobudko because the bomber appeared to be Slavic, rather than a dark-skinned migrant from the predominately Muslim North Caucasus, Kommersant, a respected daily newspaper, reported Thursday.
The police have linked him to a group called Nogai Jamaat, which they say was planning a terrorist attack on New Year’s Eve in Moscow when something went awry, and explosives detonated in a rented house. The police found the remains of a woman’s body and the belt of a suicide bomber inside the house, Kommersant reported.
Before that, the cell was known mainly for an August car bombing in the southern city of Pyatigorsk, which drew attention because its location was so unusual. Mr. Medvedev chose Pyatigorsk — an island of security in a turbulent region — as headquarters for a major effort to stifle the insurgency by attracting jobs and investment to the area, and analysts saw the attack as a harsh message to him and his envoy. The authorities said the group was “liquidated” in a counterterrorism operation last fall.
A police spokeswoman in Pyatigorsk, where Mr. Razdobudko’s family lives, said that authorities had been looking for him since November, when his relatives reported him missing. She told a television reporter that local police had received no information about his involvement in any terrorist activity.
Reporters went to his address and found no one there, so they photographed the only two clues they could find: a Koran on a windowsill, and a handwritten sign reading “Vitaly — call your brother immediately!”
–Agencies