MOSCOW, April 8. /ITAR-TASS/. A group of people allegedly involved in terrorist attacks in Volgograd and Pyatigorsk has been detained. Russia’s Federal Security Service Chief Alexander Bortnikov reported this at a session of the National Anti-Terrorist Committee on Tuesday.

“Terrorist attacks in Volgograd and Pyatigorsk have been cleared. Security officers together with the police and Investigative Committee staff have detained a group of people accessory to preparing and committing these crimes,” Bortnikov stated.

At present, investigative actions are being carried out.

December 27, 2013, a self-made car bomb exploded in Pyatigorsk, killing several people. In January 2014, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee announced the detention of six perpetrators of this terrorist attack, who made confessionary statements regarding this crime, as well as confessed that they were preparing a major terrorist attack.

December 29, 2013, a suicide bomber carried out a terrorist attack in the building of the main railway station of Volgograd, killing 18 and injuring 45 people. The second blast occurred on the next day, December 30, in a trolleybus in the Dzerzhinsky district of the city. The suicide bomber killed 16 people, and 28 were wounded.

As earlier reported by the Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin, both terrorist attacks were interrelated.

The power of the explosive device set off in the trolleybus was at least 4 kg TNT. According to the Investigative Committee, the explosion at the railway station was about 10 kg TNT-strong. Both explosive devices were stuffed with striking elements.

 

Fight against terrorism in 2014

According to Bortnikov, 19 terrorism-related crimes were averted, 13 warlords and 65 gunmen were killed in Russia from the beginning of this year. He noted that the general assessment was that law-enforcement bodies had prevented terrorists from stepping up their activity.

“During the Winter Olympics we kept stepping up efforts to curb criminal activity of gangs rampaging in several North Caucasian republics,” Bortnikov said.

“In the first quarter of 2014 36 anti-terrorism operations have been carried out in line with operational plan. Among significant results is the killing of 13 warlords and 65 active members of gangs. More than 240 bandits and their accomplices were detained,” the FSB director said.

Police seized 79 homemade bombs, more than 250 kilograms of explosives and more than 50 firearms. On top of that, law-enforcement bodies stopped the activity of 18 emissaries and members of secret cells of international terrorist organizations "The Turkistan Islamic Party" and Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami.

In the first quarter of 2014, the number of terrorism-related crimes has decreased almost by two times year on year, according to Federal Security Service chief.