Russian authorities have detained seven persons suspected of planning terrorist attacks on the railway transport system.
The Federal Security Service, said on Friday, that the suspects planned to bomb crowded places in the Russian city of St Petersburg,
“All seven persons are from Central Asia,’’ FSS said, adding that their identities had not been made public since the case is still undergoing investigation.
Central Asia is a predominantly Muslim region consisting of several former Soviet republics.
St Petersburg and Moscow, Russia’s two largest cities have sizeable populations of migrant workers from that region, who come to the cities to seek economic opportunities.
Russian authorities have detained numerous terrorism suspects from Central Asia since April bombing in one of the metro stations in St Petersburg that killed over a dozen people.
The suspected suicide bomber was 22-year-old Akbarzhon Jalilov, a Russian citizen born in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Authorities believed Jalilov was radicalised by Islamic extremists. (dpa/NAN)