MOSCOW, October 25 (Itar-Tass) —— Thanks to a special operation in Kazan a major terrorist act was averted during the Eid al-Adha celebrations , the Public Relations Centre of the Federal Security Service told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
On October 24, the FSB officers carried out a special operation in Kazan to suppress the illegal activities of members of a terrorist group, namely Robert Valeyev and Raslan Kashapov, who were on the federal wanted list.
“To search for the criminals a joint team of operatives from all republican law enforcement agencies and the units from the Federal Security Service central staff was formed. The operatives obtained the information about members of the terrorist group masterminding a major terrorist act in the places of mass gatherings during the celebrations of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha on October 26,” the public relations centre reported.
The security services traced down the criminals despite the precautious measures and a strict conspiracy by the terrorists. “The FSB agents detected the secret whereabouts of the terrorists. The area of their whereabouts was fenced off, the criminals were blocked and they were offered to surrender, but the terrorists opened the fire,” the FSB public relations centre disclosed the details of the special operation.
During the storming the terrorists put up a fierce armed resistance and were destroyed in the retaliatory fire.
“In the search the weapons and ammunition, a laboratory for making explosives, as well as an explosive device ready for detonation with a major blast yield and staffed with striking pieces were found,” the FSB public relations centre said.
Robert Valeyev is the perpetrator of the murder of head of the educational department of the Spiritual Directorate of Tatarstan’s Muslims Yakupov and the blasting of a car belonging to chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Tatar Muslims Faizov. The second destroyed terrorist Kashapov was an active accomplice of the foresaid crimes.
The Federal Security Service recalled that the murder of Yakupov and the attempt on the life of Faizov were committed at the beginning of the holy Muslim month Ramadan. “Desecrating the beginning of the lent, the terrorists were seeking to seed fear among the civilians and state about themselves as a new, well-established radical structure, which can commit high-profile crimes that are targeted at the destabilization of the public and political situation in Tatarstan,” the FSB public relations centre reported.
The victims of the crimes were also picked up deliberately.
“Faizov and Yakupov were persistent supporters of the struggle against the Wahhabism and consistently called for a ban of this ideology in all Russian regions, finding a real threat to traditional Islam in this,” the FSB public relations centre explained.