Suicide bomber ‘screaming Allahu Akbar’ injures six people in attack on a Russian FSB headquarters
- Russian officers were moving in to arrest the bomber when he blew himself up
- The explosion reportedly injured six people including officers and a passerby
- It occurred on Friday near a FSB counterintelligence service’s office, Uchkeken
- The village is in the volatile mainly-Muslim region of Karachay-Cherkessia
A suicide bomber ‘screaming Allahu Akbar’ blew himself up and injured six people today in an attack in southern Russia near FSB headquarters, say reports.
Officers moved to stop the bomber as he tried to force his way into an area where they were conducting a search operation, the National Counter-terrorism Committee said in a statement.
The explosion was close to the FSB counterintelligence service’s office in Uchkeken village in the volatile mainly-Muslim region of Karachay-Cherkessia.
‘After the explosion, six people, including law-enforcement personnel and passersby who happened to be near the scene, sought medical assistance,’ a source told Interfax.
The unidentified man carrying explosives died at the scene.
Video shows his body on the ground, and an image emerged purportedly showing part of the explosive device.
‘According to preliminary findings, the man shared the views of extremist groups and the militant underground,’ said the source.
The incident was close to the FSB counterintelligence office in the village where a ‘clap’ was heard.
The attacker had got out of a car and walked up to a group of FSB officers who were conducting a ‘criminal intelligence operation’.
‘As law-enforcement attempted to arrest the person, he detonated explosives he carried on himself,’ said the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee.
‘Six officers received minor injuries as a result of that, they are receiving medical help.’
One of those hurt was named as Asker Abdurazakov, deputy head of the department of the forensic centre at the Interior Ministry in the region.
Reports said there had been an earlier linked explosion five hours before the suicide bomber’s attack.
Authorities are trying to establish the identity of the assailant, reports said.
Russia has been hit by bomb attacks carried out by Islamist rebels from the North Caucasus in the past, although Moscow has largely crushed their insurgency.
According to the Moscow Times, the FSB and NAC said earlier this week they had prevented 41 terrorist attacks so far in 2020.
Karachayevo-Cherkessia is one of Russia’s seven Muslim-majority regions in Russia’s North Caucasus.
They have experienced much violence in the two decades since separatists were defeated in nearby Chechnya.