Five members of terrorist group seized in Dagestan

MOSCOW. February 28. KAZINFORM Five members of a terrorist group are seized in Dagestan, a representative of the National Counter Terrorism Committee told Itar-Tass.

Maxim Davydov, aka Abubakr, 22, was seized at a Makhachkala hospital on February 25. He told the doctor he accidentally cut himself with a knife. "The doctors said those were shell injuries. Davydov told the interrogators in the end that he was injured in a self-induced explosion of a handmade bomb," the source said; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.

The other members of the Davydov group were located in the course of investigative procedures.

The Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry detained in Makhachkala the suspected group leader, Ali Shapiyev born in 1989, who had a previous criminal record, Asker Magomedov aka Abdurakhman born in 1985, Marat Musayev born in 1988 and Ali Sultanov Ali aka Beshtos born in 1989.

"The detainees admitted several murders and a number of terrorist crimes," the source said.

"The group was operating since the middle of 2010 and was very dangerous, because its members had a knack on handling firearms and making bombs," he said. The group focused on murders, assaults, robberies and extortions.

The Counter Terrorism Committee described the detentions as another step towards the elimination of terrorism in Dagestan.