AKIPRESS.COM - A suspect accused of helping to prepare the St Petersburg metro bombing has been detained near Moscow, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

“One of the organizers of the investigated case, who is a native of the Central Asian region, Azimov Abror Akhralovich, born in 1990, has been detained in the area of Odintsovo, Moscow Region,” the statement said, RT reported. 

He is the ninth person to be detained in connection with the attack, which killed 14 and wounded more than 50 earlier this month, BBC reported.

It was carried out by Kyrgyz-born Russian Akbarzhon Jalilov, 22.

Abror Azimov is believed to have trained Jalilov ahead of the suicide bombing, Russia's Tass news agency reported.

He was carrying a pistol and a package containing two smartphones at the time of his arrest, reports said.

The other eight people detained in connection with the attack - six in St Petersburg and two in Moscow - are also from Central Asia.

Jalilov is said to have detonated his device after a metro train left St Petersburg's Sennaya Ploshchad station, heading south for Tekhnologichesky Institut on the blue, north-south metro line.

Although the explosion happened in between the two stations the driver continued to Tekhnologichesky Institut to enable victims to be helped more easily.

Russia's investigative committee said this decision may have helped prevent further losses.