| A special police taskforce unit in the west Siberian city of Novosibirsk detained a group of militants in Chechnya who were allegedly planning a massive terrorist attack in Moscow this summer, NTV television reported, citing taskforce sources. The suspects were reportedly planning to carry out an attack using the same methods used at major outdoor events in the summer of 2003, NTV said. The militants allegedly had chosen the central Moscow district of Kotelniki, and central Russia’s Volgograd Region for their planned attacks. Home-made explosive devices, which were said to be disguised as handbags, were confiscated from the detained men. These were the same devices used at the rock concert in Tushino last summer, when two female suicide bombers killed dozens, the channel quoted authorities as saying. Authorities say the detained militants are probably linked not only to the Tushino bombing but also to a militant group led by the warlord Ruslan Gelayev. Experts quoted by the news station have said the explosives used in the Tushino attack were made in Moscow. The TNT was heated and softened so that it could be used as a suicide belt. |