Woman suicide bomber held in Russia

Moscow, June 28 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A 19-year-old woman recruited by an extremist group to carry out a suicide bombing in Russia's Dagestan republic has been arrested in neighbouring Chechnya, officials said.

The woman, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria republic, was arrested in Chechen capital Grozny, said a spokesman for the Chechen interior ministry.

Police seized a "martyrdom letter" addressed to the woman's relatives along with extremist literature, the spokesman said.

The woman maintained her innocence and told police she was travelling to Dagestan to study Islam in a religious school. None of her relatives knew about her trip, she said.

Police said the woman's actual aim was to carry out a suicide attack in Dagestan.

Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said extremists often use young people "to achieve their villainous and malicious goals".

The woman's husband is in jail, and the recruiters apparently "found the woman's raw spot - her unfortunate personal life", which they used to persuade her to carry out the attack, he said.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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