Federal Security Service (FSB) officers detained a man working as an assistant railway engineer in Russia's southern Krasnodar region for planning an explosion on board a train, the TASS news agency reported Monday, citing an unidentified FSB spokesperson.
The man planned to flee Russia after carrying out the attack and join the ranks of Islamic State terror group fighters in Syria, the report said.
The man, identified in the report only as A. Ferzaliyev, was detained Friday after coming under suspicion for running a terrorism-focused page on the VKontakte social network.
The man published materials defending the actions of banned terrorist groups and tried to recruit new members for the Islamic State on his VKontakte page, TASS cited the FSB as saying. He also contacted an Islamic State member in Syria and asked for instructions on how to build an improvised explosive device.
Ferzaliyev has confessed his plans and is currently under arrest pending an investigation, the FSB spokesperson added.
FSB head Alexander Bortnikov said last week that 20 terror attacks had been prevented in Russia so far this year, TASS reported.
"Twelve Russian nationals — Islamic State members and accomplices — were detained on Oct. 11 for planning explosions on public transport using improvised explosive devices," he was cited as saying.
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