Large-scale terrorist attacks averted in Russia

Law enforcement officers have averted a number of large-scale attacks in Russia over the past two months, the head of Russia`s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Tuesday.

"In the past two months, special services and law enforcement agencies frustrated terrorists` plans to commit a number of large-scale terrorist acts," Alexander Bortnikov, who also heads the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, said at a committee meeting.

"People who took part in organizing and perpetrating the terrorist attacks in the Moscow metro and at the railroad station in the town of Derbent were established promptly. Timely measures prevented their further criminal activity," Bortnikov said.

The attack on the Moscow subway occurred on March 29 when two suicide bombers blew themselves up during the morning rush hour at the Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations, killing 40 people and injuring over 100.

One person was killed and eight injured after a bomb placed in a litter bin exploded at Derbent train station in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on the evening of May 7.

Bortnikov also said the activity of 11 gang leaders in the North Caucasus has been stopped since early 2010.

Sporadic terrorist attacks and militant clashes are common in Russia`s mainly Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.

The Kremlin has pledged to wage "a ruthless fight" against militant groups but also acknowledged a need to tackle unemployment, organized crime, clan rivalry and corruption as causes of the ongoing violence in the region.

Russia has been fighting militants in the North Caucasus for over a decade, including two separatist wars in Chechnya.

sections: Society