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Russia Says Killed ISIS Member Plotting Presidential Election Attack

Russia Says Killed ISIS Member Plotting Presidential Election Attack

Thursday, 1 February, 2018 - 10:30
A man walks past the headquarters of the FSB, or Federal Security Service, in central Moscow on Dec. 30, 2016. (Vasily Maximov / AFP/Getty Images)

Russia's FSB security agency said Thursday it had killed an ISIS militant in the provincial city of Nizhny Novgorod as he was plotting an attack on the country’s presidential election day next month.


The FSB said the man "was ready to carry out a sabotage and terrorist attack on the day of presidential elections" on March 18 when Vladimir Putin is expected to win a fourth Kremlin term.


The man resisted arrest and was "neutralized," the FSB said in a statement, while state television showed footage of the man's dead body lying in what appears to be a garage scattered with hub caps and boxes.


Security forces said they found a powerful homemade explosive device as well as firearms and ammunition during the raid in the large industrial city around 400 kilometers east of Moscow.


The agency said it had information the man was a citizen of one of the countries neighboring Russia, without giving further details.


Another ISIS militant was killed by police in the same city in October 2016.


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