The Federal Security Service killed three people involved in the March suicide attacks on the Moscow metro after they refused to surrender, FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said Thursday.
Bortnikov told President Dmitry Medvedev that FSB agents tracked down the trio, including one who escorted the two female suicide bombers to Moscow and another who led the women to the scene.
"To our great regret, we did not manage to seize them alive," he said in televised remarks. "They put on stiff armed resistance and were destroyed."
A stern-looking Medvedev replied: "Identify those involved in committing this heinous crime. Destroy the ones trying to resist. Show no mercy!"
The female suicide bombers, who officials say were natives of Dagestan, blew themselves up at two metro stations, killing 40 people.