Investigators closed off the main entrances at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport for an hour last weekend to re-enact terrorist preparations for the January blast that killed 37 in the international arrivals hall, Lifenews.ru reported Tuesday.
Officials were trying to understand the role played in the attack by the two detained suspects, an unidentified law enforcement source told the tabloid.
Meanwhile, passengers had to use narrow emergency exits to enter or leave the airport’s halls, which were cordoned off by armed police in balaclavas, the newspaper said. No complaints were reported.
One of the two suspects, a friend of suicide bomber Magomed Yevloyev, identified only by the last name Idriyev, pleaded guilty to co-preparing the attack, saying he came to Domodedovo three days before the blast to examine its layout and map locations of police officers and metal detectors, the source said.
The other, Yevloyev’s brother Islam, admitted only to escorting his brother to the airport’s entrance on the day of the blast, but said he was not aware of the planned attack, the source said. The suspect said he was aware his brother had contacts with the militants, but never paid much attention to his affairs.
No state agency commented on the report Tuesday.
Five people were detained over the Domodedovo blasts, but none of them were identified as Idriyev and Islam Yevloyev. Earlier reports said two suspects were Yevloyev’s siblings but gave their names as Akhmed and Fatima Yevloyev, and a third, an alleged militant, was identified as Islam Yandiyev. The reports could not be immediately reconciled.