22:11, 12 March 2007

Four terror acts prevented in Astrakhan in 2006

Today, on March 12, the Administration of the Astrakhan Region has summed up the work in 2006 of the control headquarters for counteracting terror. "Four terror acts were prevented in the Region through the efforts of the control headquarters," Vyacheslav Shanshin, head of the FSB (Federal Security Bureau) Department for the Astrakhan Region, has noted. According to his words, 8 persons were detained on suspicions of involvement and planning of terrorist operations. According to the press service of the Regional Public Prosecutor's Office, these persons, who had planned to commit acts of terror and were accessorial to terror acts in other regions, are Islamists. This is confirmed by the audio, video and printed materials of extremist character confiscated from them. Besides, in 2006, in the course of operative and search actions, four self-made explosion devices, two fragmentation hand grenades, firearms and cold steel weapons were found on these persons (and at their residence).

Vyacheslav Shanshin has also reported that in 2006 five militants voluntarily surrendered to law enforcement bodies.

Author: Maria Perkina, CK correspondent