Chechen police have arrested four alleged suicide bombers in the Shalin region. The oldest of the four is 18.
Firearms, a mine and three 5-kilogram suicide bomber’s belts were found in the apartment where the men were staying.
Chechen President, Ramzan Kadyrov, personally visited the apartment and questioned the alleged terrorists, who confessed that they were trained by Arab mercenaries. One of the detainees has given details of the training and of the proposed terror acts.
Kadyrov said that the operation helped to prevent a series of explosions which would involve two mosques and a police station.
“Today, thanks to the efforts of the police, we saved dozens of human lives,” he told the Interfax news agency. “We will continue finding and destroying terrorists.”
The attacks would have been the latest outbreak of violence in Russia's restless Caucasus region, which has seen a significant increase the numbers of terrorist acts in recent months.