Teen-led terror plot foiled in southern Russia
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has reported that it disrupted a terrorist conspiracy allegedly plotted by a group of mostly teenage suspects who pledged loyalty to an international extremist organization.
The cell, based in Stavropol Region in southern Russia, included nine people – only one of whom is legally an adult – according to an FSB statement released on Monday. The authorities said the group's leader, a minor, independently reached out to the terrorist organization online last year and went on to recruit the others.
The group reportedly planned to attack police officers at multiple locations on May 9, which marks Russia's Victory Day, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The FSB said it apprehended the group's leaders the day before the alleged attacks were to take place. Additional arrests followed in later raids, the agency added.
Officials did not name the terrorist organization allegedly involved or elaborate on its role in the planned assault. Stavropol Region is located close to majority-Muslim areas of Russia, where the authorities say radical Islamist movements continue to pose security risks.
Earlier this month, two traffic police officers were killed and several others injured during a gunfight with suspected members of another terrorist group in Makhachkala, Dagestan Republic. The authorities said one of the attackers was wounded and arrested after a failed attempt to flee the scene by car. Two civilians were also injured in the incident.
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