Russian teenager blew himself up in FSB building, sparking investigation into terrorism

MOSCOW – Russia has opened an investigation into allegations of terrorism after a 17-year-old man blew himself up Wednesday in the lobby of an office of the Russian Security Service (FSB) in the north of the country.

The Russian investigation committee said that the unidentified teenager had detonated a homemade bomb in the lobby of the FSB, the country's main security and intelligence service, in the city of Arkhangelsk. He said that he was dead instantly.

Investigators said they identified the teenager as being a resident of the city, located about 20 km north of Moscow, without having named him.

Three FSB employees were injured in the blast, the investigation committee said in a statement.

He published what he said was an image of the bomber in the lobby of the building under CCTV. The picture showed a young man with his right hand in a bag that he held in his left hand.

Images posted on social media by witnesses after the explosion showed what looked like a body lying on the ground in front of the heavy wooden entrance doors of the FSB building.

A spokesman for the investigation committee said that the investigation would be entrusted to Moscow and that the Russian supreme investigator, Alexander Bastrykin, wanted the motive of the teenager and of other details are established as soon as possible.

This would involve finding out who he was in contact with and his family situation, the spokesman added.

Russian media have issued an unconfirmed warning issued by the kamikaze on social media before the blast. The kamikaze is described as a communist anarchist and said that he had decided to act because the FSB was making business and torturing people.

Earlier this month, an 18-year-old student killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens of others at a college in the Crimea region on the Black Sea. He walked through the building, firing randomly at comrades before killing himself.