FSB Says Islamists Targeted Russian Train

Russian security services say they have foiled a plot by a group of Islamists to blow up a high-speed train running between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, according to Russia’s “Kommersant” business daily.

A blast on the same route that authorities blamed on Muslim rebels killed 26 people in November 2009.

“Kommersant” says the group of North Caucasus-based militants had already prepared a fertilizer bomb and were in the closing stages of their operation when they were arrested by Federal Security Service (FSB) agents.

FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov on July 18 reported to President Dmitry Medvedev that his service had averted a “major terror act” in the Moscow region in the preceding days.

Bortnikov said at the time that the militants had plans to target pulbic places and “transport infrastructure” in the Moscow region.

compiled from agency reports

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