The attack was perpetrated by a female suicide bomber and Islamic extremist named Naida Sirazhudinovna Asiyalova, who detonated an explosive belt inside a bus carrying approximately 40 people—predominantly students.

[4][5][6] Asiyalova's motive to commit the Volgograd bus bombing is believed to be a symbolic statement of support referencing the North Caucasus separatist ideology.

[9] At approximately 14:01 on 21 October 2013, Naida Sirazhudinovna Asiyalova (Russian: Наида Сиражудиновна Асиялова), a 30-year-old fugitive from the Republic of Dagestan, boarded a LiAZ-5256 [ru] bus in the Krasnoarmeysky district of Volgograd.

[10] The passengers on this bus were predominantly students in their late teens and early twenties returning home from classes at Volgograd State University.

[8] An investigation into Asiyalova's movements on the date of her death determined she had purchased a ticket to travel to Moscow via bus from Dagestan on the morning of 21 October, but had alighted the vehicle in Volgograd.

[16] Via an examination of CCTV footage, investigators determined Asiyalova had briefly entered a Volgograd shopping centre at 1:16 on the afternoon of her death, but had left the premises shortly thereafter before boarding the bus.

[21] She first encountered her future husband and co-conspirator in the Volgograd bus bombing, Dmitry Sokolov, on a Russian dating website in 2010 when she was a 27-year-old divorcée and he an 18-year-old recent convert to Islam.

[21] According to Asiyalova's mother, Ravzat, her daughter began developing a keen interest in Islamic extremism the year she encountered Sokolov and was already markedly radicalized—having adopted the name Amaturahman.

[29] On 15 November 2013, Russian security forces located Dmitry Sokolov (then aged 21) in a private house in a village close to Makhachkala, Dagestan.

[30] Prior to his death at the hands of Russian security services, Sokolov admitted within the telephone negotiations that he had constructed the suicide belt used in the Volgograd bus bombing with his wife's willing participation.