The group of armed militants reportedly plotted “high-profile” terrorist acts
Russian security services have launched a counterterrorist operation in Ingushetia, after authorities located and blocked a group of gunmen inside one of the residential buildings in the city of Karabulak on Saturday evening.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) agents surrounded the suspected militant hideout around 7:30pm local time, according to the regional crisis center. All residents of the multi-storey apartment building as well as surrounding houses were evacuated, as authorities moved in to secure the area.
The militants engaged in a fierce firefight with authorities, with sporadic gunfire and grenade explosions heard late into the night, according to media reports and videos from the scene.
There were no casualties or injuries among civilians. The head of the republic Mahmud-Ali Kalimatov urged residents “not to panic and remain calm,” adding that the “situation is under the control of law enforcement agencies.”
It remains unclear how many gunmen were blocked in the hideout, but according to authorities at least one of the suspects was on a federal wanted list in connection with a deadly terrorist raid on a police outpost last year.
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