Russia: Bombs defused in Chechnya, Dagestan

12 June: The federal troops have destroyed an improvised landmine and four artillery shells in southeast Chechnya. The military think that they managed to prevent acts of terror.

"Yesterday [11 June], soldiers of a Russian Defence Ministry unit found a powerful improvised explosive device during a reconnaissance mission near Agishty village in Shalinskiy District. The device was planted at the roadside. The bomb was destroyed by detonation on the site," an officer of the Chechen military prosecutor's office told Kavkazskiy Uzel on 12 June. He said that the power of the destroyed landmine was equivalent to several kilograms of TNT.

"In addition, soldiers of the Defence Ministry found four artillery shells of large calibre in the same area, in the vicinity of the Shali district centre. Taking into account the fact that rebels often use shells and other munitions to make explosive devices, it cannot be ruled out that they were preparing an act of terror. The found shells were destroyed by detonation," the officer said.

Meanwhile, it was reported on 11 June that a powerful explosive device had gone off on a road in southeast Chechnya when vehicles carrying OMON [special purpose police detachment] officers from Perm Territory were passing by. There were no casualties, the Chechen Interior Ministry said.

[Passage omitted: reported details of a blast at the Dallas cafe in Groznyy on 9 June]

[Caucasus Times website, Prague, in Russian 12 Jun 08 quoted a police officer as saying that an improvised explosive device was defused on the Khasavyurt-Babayurt road in Dagestan's Khasavyurtovskiy District on 12 June. The report said that the bomb's power was equivalent to 5 kg of TNT.]

Source: Kavkaz.memo.ru website, Moscow, in Russian 12 Jun 08

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Related terms: chechnya, military, police, russia