He said that during two-day special operation in the Vedenski and the Nozhai-Yurt districts of Chechnya, operatives detained two bandits from Shamil Basaev's group and a bandit from Aslan Maskhadov's group. During interrogation, they revealed the plans of a terrorist act scheduled for March 8, which is a holiday in Russia celebrating the International Women's Day.
"Basaev and Maskhadov planned this terrorist act. In particular, bandits planned to attack an administrative building in the center of Tolstoy-Urt in the Grozny district and destroy it by grenade-launcher fire," Mr. Shabalkin revealed.
Simultaneously, he said, the bandits planned an assault on a local Internal Ministry department and a building of military commandant's office.
Federal troops conducted a special operation on the basis of information obtained in Tolstoy-Urt. At present, several bandits had been captured, the ROH official reported.
He also informed journalists that the bandit group that was supposed to attack Tolstoy-Urt planned to conduct a terrorist act similar to that on the Dinamo stadium in Grosny on May 9, 2004, when the explosion occurred under the stalls where Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and his closest aides were standing. ( Mr. Kadyrov was killed by the explosion).
"Considering the current situation, the federal forces command urgently formed a joint operative group consisting of interior ministry, FSB and defense department operatives and sent it to Tolstoy-Urt," Mr. Shabalkin noted.
At present, federal forces conduct thorough check of ID papers and search of local buildings in Tolstoy-Urt and the entire Grozny district. The FSB spetsnaz is currently in pursuit of bandits who were preparing the terrorist act in Tolstoy-Urt. Their task is to either detain or eliminate the terrorists.
