Crime Bureau foil terrorist attack in Moscow

Moscow, Feb 27: Russia's Organised Crime Bureau said they foiled a terrorist attack here when they arrested Farid Magomedov with an explosive device at a bus stop in the north-west of the city on last Thursday.

Investigators told Russian news agencies yesterday that Magomedov from Daghestan, a Russian republic in the North Caucasus near Chechnya, was responsible for the production of explosives used in terrorist attacks in the republic.

The Bureau said Magomedov intended to use the home-made explosive device, equivalent to 500 grams of TNT to ''perpetrate a terrorist attack on policemen in Moscow''.

He made at least nine explosive devices in Daghestan and was an active member of the Shariat gang, responsible for dozens of terrorist acts in the North Caucasus, including the murder of a Daghestani Minister and an attack that left ten servicemen dead and 26 wounded.

Magomedov is supposed ''to be personally involved in at least three Shariat attacks in the North Caucasus,'' the Bureau said, adding that he underwent special training in Turkey, Syria and a number of Arab countries, and maintained close links with Al-Qaida members.

Last year, he arrived in Moscow following the arrest of Shariat leader Ruslan Abdullayev in order to form his own terrorist gang.

UNI