The Federal Security Service has killed more than 240 insurgents, including 11 rebel leaders, in the North Caucasus since the start of the year, FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said Tuesday.
Bortnikov said the FSB has tracked and eliminated “most” perpetrators of twin bombings in the Moscow metro that killed 40 people on March 29 and a May 7 blast at the Derbent railway station in Dagestan that killed one and injured six, Interfax reported.
Earlier this month, the FSB reported killing three men linked to the bombing in Dagestan and several members of a group headed by Magomedali Vagabov, who is blamed for the Moscow attacks.
Bortnikov, speaking at a meeting of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, also said a number of terrorist attacks had been averted over the past two months. He did not elaborate.
Bortnikov confirmed that the FSB had captured Ali Taziyev, an Ingush rebel leader nicknamed “Magas,” and killed a gang of 10 rebels led by Saudi native Yasir in Chechnya. Bortnikov called Yasir an emissary of a global terrorist network.
Bortnikov praised the FSB for its efforts to destroy terrorist infrastructure. “But I want to stress that work in this direction only yields positive results when we really feel the support of the local population,” he said.