Russian special forces arrest 3 suspected terrorists in Dagestan raids
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Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee says that law enforcement officers detained suspects plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in the country.
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Federal Bailiff service officers stand guard at the Babushkinsky district court in Moscow, Russia, on February 20, 2021. (AP)
Three people were detained in a special operation in Russia's Dagestan Republic for plotting to commit terrorist crimes, the National Antiterrorism Committee (NAS) said on Sunday.
The suspects possessed automatic firearms, ammunition, and an improvised explosive device, NAS added.
Earlier on Sunday, the agency revealed that Russian special forces surrounded the suspected terrorists in several apartments in the cities of Makhachkala and Kaspisk in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe.
"During the counterterrorist operation carried out this morning in Makhachkala and Kaspiysk led by the NAC operational headquarters, the security agencies detained three assailants who were planning to commit a number of terrorist offenses," NAC stated.
According to Russian news agency Sputnik, a counterterrorist operation regime was introduced in the designated areas.
No casualties among civilians or law enforcement officers were reported as a result of the operation.
The head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, said that the terrorists had been identified due to increased security efforts following the terror attack on the Crocus City Hall venue in the Moscow Oblast.
🇷🇺⚡ Footage of the counter-terrorism operation in Dagestan was published this morning
— War Watch (@WarWatchs) March 31, 2024
Three militants who were preparing terrorist attacks in the region were detained. pic.twitter.com/Wlv8mmNYS8
"I would like to thank all competent services for this brilliant and successful operation... The terrorists have been identified partly due to tightened security measures after the terrorist attack in the Moscow Region," Melikov wrote on his Telegram channel.
Furthermore, a law enforcement source told Sputnik that the terrorists had lived in leased apartments.
"The detained were renting those apartments. For example, preliminary data suggests that the owners of the apartment in the residential building in Amet-Khana Sultana Street in Kaspiysk do not even live in Dagestan," the source said.
Eventually, the counterterrorist operation regime was lifted in the affected areas at 9:00 am GMT.
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On Friday, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested three people plotting an attack in the country's south, a week after the assault on a Moscow concert hall killed at least 144 people.
The FSB security agency said it had "put an end to the terrorist activities of three nationals from a Central Asian country," Russian news agencies reported.
The three had been "planning to commit a terrorist act by blowing up a device in a public place in the Stavropol region," it added.
The RIA Novosti news agency said the ingredients for an improvised explosive device (IED) and chemical substances had been found at the home of one of the suspects.
The Stavropol region sits in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia, bordering Dagestan and Chechnya among others.
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