MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - A group of militants preparing an attack on May 9 - when Russia celebrates the end of World War II - has been eliminated in southern Russia, the country's domestic security service said Thursday.
The Federal Security Service said in a news release that the militants had been killed during an operation in the North Caucasus republic of Karachayevo-Circassia after they had put up armed resistance.
The operation was conducted by security services and police in the Storozhevaya village in the southern district of Zelenchuksky.
"There is information about this group's involvement in the murders of local police officers and a security officer in 2005," the news release said.
The gunmen have not yet been identified. A preliminary inspection of the site exposed Kalashnikovs with attached grenade launchers, two Makarov pistols, and nine grenades, the statement said.
The security service said preliminary reports suggested the explosives had been manufactured in a local private house. "We have found components of a handmade explosive device," the statement said.
The news release also said that the components included, among other things, two parts for a homemade explosive device based on a Casio watch.
On May 9, 2004, Akhmad Kadyrov, the president of another North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, was assassinated when a bomb went off at a Grozny stadium where he was leading a parade.
