Man arrested in Zhlobin is radical Islamist, KGB says

A man arrested while attempting to blow up a police station in Zhlobin, Homyel region, in late May advocates radical Islam, said the press office of the Committee for State Security (KGB) on Friday.

The man told investigators that his objective had been to “intimidate the population and take revenge on the police,” said the press office.

Wearing a mask with an Arabic-language writing, the man attempted to commit an attack on the station with Molotov cocktails and an improvised device with an explosive power equivalent to five kilograms of TNT on the afternoon of May 24.

On June 1, he was formally charged with attempting a terrorist act.

The case is being investigated by the KGB and the Investigative Committee.

According to the KGB press office, the investigative team is probing a theory that the man plotted the attack in response to the recent arrest of several leaders of trafficking rings smuggling people from countries with the presence of terrorist groups into Europe. The investigators believe that the man may be linked to radical Islamist transnational groups, according to the press office.

The man said that he had made the explosive device himself using information on the websites of extremist groups. He reportedly stuffed the bomb with nails.

The bomb is currently studied by experts of the interior ministry’s State Forensic Science Center. A psychological evaluation of the man has been ordered.

The press office would not disclose the birth date or citizenship of the man. KGB spokesman Alyaksandr Antanovich only told BelaPAN that the suspect is a young man.