[RFE/RL] Security authorities in the Tatarstan region have detained 15 alleged members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir group.A spokesman for the Federal Security Service said on March 14 that the suspects were detained after a special operation. The spokesman said thirty homes were searched in Kazan and Tatarstan's two districts, and books with suspected extremist content were confiscated at the searched homes.
Officials in Russia and other former Soviet republics say Hizb ut-Tahrir plays a role in a strategy used by Al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants to radicalize young people and recruit them to fight in Syria and Iraq. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia and Central Asia, says its movement is peaceful.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, a London-based Sunni political organization, seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate.