MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. The militants wiped out during a special operation in Nalchik on Thursday were planning murders of government officials during the celebration of Republic Day in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
"It has been established that the criminals were planning to commit a series of subversive and terrorist acts, including murders of government officials during the celebrations dedicated to Republic Day," the Information Center of Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) has told TASS.
On Thursday, the NAC said a group of six gunmen had been killed in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. A large bomb-making laboratory was discovered.
"In the course of the counterterrorism operation in Nalchik six gunmen were neutralized and a large laboratory manufacturing home-made explosive devices was discovered," the Anti-Terrorism Committee said, adding that one of the militants was involved in the murder of a department head of the republican Prosecutor’s Office on July 14.
The NAC noted that the gunmen had committed a series of terrorist crimes between 2013 and 2015, including murders and attempted assassinations of law enforcement officers.