A number of Federal Security Service officers were killed and wounded in Dagestan during an operation targeting the terrorist group responsible for twin blasts in the Moscow metro in March, FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said Wednesday, Interfax reported.
Bortnikov said only that the group was “related” to the blasts. He refused to elaborate or give the number of casualties, saying the information would be made public later.
The FSB is probably targeting the 40-member gang of Magomedali Vagabov, who had close ties to Mariam Sharipova, identified as one of the two Moscow suicide bombers, a source in a North Caucasus law enforcement agency told Interfax.
Vagabov was either the common-law husband of Sharipova or a friend of her previous husband, known as Doctor Mukhammad, who was killed in Dagestan in August, the source said. Terrorists killed an FSB officer and a local mountain guide in Dagestan on Tuesday and wounded another officer and mountain guide, the source said.
Bortnikov also reported Wednesday that the FSB has detained a man suspected of planning 12 bombings in Moscow in 2009 using 15 kilograms of explosives intercepted by law enforcement officers. He gave no other details of the case.