Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) foiled an attack planned by a
cell loyal to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in the country’s unstable
southern republic of Dagestan, arresting four people, AFP reported.

“Members of the group planned to detonate an explosive close to an
administrative building belonging to security services, followed by an armed
attack against interior ministry employees” in regional capital
Makhachkala, the FSB said in a statement.

The investigators also found firearms, weapons, ammunition and an
explosive device, along with phones containing information about exchange locations.

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On December 17, police killed two attackers targeting security forces in
Russia’s neighbouring republic of Chechnya. In October, six people were killed
during a ‘counter-terrorism’ operation in Chechnyan capital Grozny.Russia’s
territories in the Caucasus were ravaged by two wars between federal troops and
Chechen separatists in the 1990s and 2000s.

Increasingly Islamist in character, the insurgency spread to other
republics in the region and declared allegiance to IS in 2015.

While the
jihadist group’s influence remains limited, occasional attacks against the
authorities persist in Chechnya, Dagestan and neighbouring Ingushetia.