MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has eliminated two extremist cells in Karachay-Cherkessia and Dagestan, the FSB Public Relations Center informed TASS on Friday.
"The Federal Security Service in Malokarachayevsky District of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic and in the cities of Makhachkala, Kaspiysk and Izberbash in the Republic of Dagestan foiled the activities of two cells of the At Takfir wal-Hijra international extremist religious organization (outlawed in Russia) with a total number of more than 20 people," it said.
According to the FSB, its members actively promoted extremist ideology and recruited new supporters to the group. "They urged believers to reject secular laws and civil society institutions. They also advocated the creation of a theocratic Islamic state - a caliphate - in the North Caucasus," it noted.
During the searches, FSB officers seized, in particular, three grenades, three Makarov pistols, 190 copies of pseudo-religious literature and five handwritten texts of lectures by extremist preachers.
The FSB directorates in Karachay-Cherkessia and Dagestan have initiated criminal cases to identify the organization’s members and bring them to justice.
