Authorities detained 60 people accused of belonging to groups planning to carry out terror attacks to disrupt the weekend inauguration of Chechnya's president, officials said Friday. Col. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian headquarters of what the Kremlin calls its anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus region, said law enforcement and security agencies were searching for other members of the group, whose number he said totaled about 200, the Interfax news agency reported. He said group members had planned to disrupt the inauguration Sunday of Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed administration chief in Chechnya who won the regional presidential election there this month. He did not give details about the alleged plans.
| 60 people is a pretty substantial bust... |
Shabalkin claimed the groups were linked to Aslan Maskhadov, the separatist who was elected president of Chechnya in 1997 but is now wanted by Russian authorities, and Shamil Basayev, a top rebel warlord who carried out several attacks during the two wars in Chechnya. He said the groups had received funding from Abu al-Walid, an Arab militant Russian authorities have accused of being behind attacks in Chechnya, Interfax reported.
| Another member of the al-Ghamdi clan... |
Interfax quoted Shabalkin as saying 37 of the suspects were detained in Ingushetia, a small region adjacent to Chechnya. Speaking on Channel One television, he said they had planned "terrorist acts" aimed to "destabilize the situation" in the North Caucasus, including Chechnya. Shabalkin said authorities have confiscated large quantities of weapons and ammunition from the people who were detained — about enough to fill a truck — and Channel One showed footage of guns, grenade launchers and other weapons Shabalkin said had been seized. |