Russian police detained one of the suspects behind the March 31 terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus Dagestani town of Kizlyar, local police spokesman said on Sunday.
On Saturday, Dagestani police stopped a car where was also the suspect behind the two terrorist bombings in Kizlyar. On March 31 two bombs rocked the town of Kizlyar in Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan, claiming 12 lives.
"Three people were in a car, and one of them was a member of subversive-terrorist group "Kizlyar," Pahrudin Akhmedov, born in 1982, who was wanted since a terrorist attack in Kizlyar, carried on March 31," the spokesman said adding that Akhmedov was suspected of the organization of the terrorist attack.
Earlier this month Federal Security Service chief Alexander Bortnikov said three members of a criminal group behind the March 29 terrorist attacks on the Moscow subway were killed.
Twin powerful blasts hit the Moscow metro during the morning rush hour on March 29, killing 40 people and injuring over 100. Medvedev urged a prompt investigation into the tragedy and said those involved in the bombings should be severely punished.
Russia has been fighting militants in the volatile North Caucasus region, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, with militants frequently targeting police and officials, for almost two decades and has carried out two brutal separatist wars in Chechnya. Analysts have suggested that the terrorist attacks were revenge for a recent operation in Chechnya that led to the deaths of over 20 radical Islamic militants.
The Russian government has recently made moves to improve social and economic conditions in the North Caucasus to prevent locals from joining terrorist groups.
The Kremlin has pledged to wage "a ruthless fight" against militant groups but also acknowledged a need to tackle unemployment, organized crime, clan rivalry and corruption as causes of the ongoing violence in the region.
MAKHACHKALA, May 23 (RIA Novosti)
