Siberian 'extremist' was married to the Volgograd 'suicide bomber'

As Russia mourned the tragic loss of six bus passengers, a disturbing link to Siberia emerged on Monday. The explosion which murdered half a dozen and left up to 30 wounded, with eight in a grave condition, was caused by 30 year old Naida Asiyalova soon after she boarded the bus in Volgograd.

'According to preliminary information, a native of Dagestan, 30-year-old Naida Asiyalova, blew herself up,' said a statement from the Russian Investigative Committee. 'She boarded the bus at one of the bus stops and an explosion took place almost immediately afterwards.'

She died in the 'suicide attack' alongside her victims. But this was not the same as earlier outrages when 'black widow' killers have been involved. 

Asiyalova's husband remains alive and was named as Dmitry Sokolov, aged 21, a native of Krasnoyarsk. 

Three years ago he went to Dagestan without notifying his parents, say reports, and he is known to have studied both Wahhabism and explosives. 

He met and married Asiyalova in Moscow, it is claimed. 

Sokolov - said to be prone to outside influences and also described as 'vicious' - is now a leading bomber in a Makhachkala gang. His worried parents had appealed in TV show 'Wait For Me', about missing people, while there were media appeals for his wife over a serious medical condition. 

Sokolov is believed to have been behind preparing a suicide belt for a woman bomber in the Dagestan capital on 25 May and also to have prepared the explosives for other attacks. He was born in Krasnoyarsk, and later lived in Vladivostok, the son of a professional military man. 

Later the family settled near Moscow. His mother Olga made a dramatic TV appeal for him last year, evidently not realising at the time that he was with an extremist group in Dagestan.