Russia detains 10 with ‘Daesh links’

Russia’s security service said on Saturday it had detained 10 people with alleged links to Daesh on suspicion of plotting armed attacks in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
The FSB security service, the successor to the KGB, said it had detained 10 people originating from Central Asia who were “planning to commit a series of high-profile acts of sabotage and terror in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.”
It said the suspects, detained in an operation in conjunction with the ex-Soviet Central Asian states of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, had testified to contacts with Daesh leaders.
It said the group were suspected of plotting to murder civilians in busy public places using automatic weapons and powerful homemade explosive devices.
During raids on Saturday, the FSB said it confiscated four homemade bombs as well as trigger devices, guns, ammunition and communications equipment. The FSB periodically reports on foiling major attacks on Russia and in annexed Crimea, while giving few details.
Membership of a “terrorist organization” is punishable by 10-20 years in prison under Russian law while leading one is punishable by up to life in jail.
Impoverished majority-Muslim Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan both say they are battling extremism.
Tajikistan says that up to 1,000 of its nationals are fighting with radical groups in Syria and Iraq, while Kyrgyzstan says that some 500 of its citizens have gone to fight alongside militants.
Moscow last year launched a campaign of air strikes in Syria to help President Bashar Assad take on various rebel groups as well as the Daesh militant group. The Kremlin has said its main objective is to crush Islamic State.
Thousands of Russians have been fighting in Syria with anti-Assad forces, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in early November, warning of possible attacks by them when they return home.
The Ferghana Valley, a fertile and densely populated strip of land that straddles Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, is considered to be the heart of militancy in Central Asia.
Tajikistan also borders Afghanistan and is seen by some as a possible conduit for militants.

Source: Arab News