GROZNY. Aug 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Federal Security Service and Chechen military commandant's office personnel have destroyed a rebel explosives factory in Grozny's Zavodskoi district.
The operation took the rebels by surprise, Chechen Deputy Prime Minister in charge of law-enforcement Movsur Khamidov told Interfax on Thursday.
Numerous instruments intended for control of artillery and mortar fire and remote control units to set off bombing devices 30 meters from the operator were found in the factory, Khamidov said. "One such device can trigger up to 40 improvised bombing devices," he said.
The raid on the factory is part of steps aimed at preventing a large-scale terror attack planned by rebels for early September, when they mark "Ichkeriya Independence Day," Khamidov said.
They may have planned to load tonnes of explosives into a truck and ram a large building, Khamidov said. "According to intelligence reports, the organizers of the attack are located in a neighboring country," he said.
Local residents helped in detecting the factory, Khamidov said. Several carloads of the factory's products and equipment have been removed.
Chechen administration head Akhmad Kadyrov, Prime Minister Stanislav Ilyasov and the military command have been notified of the operation's results. An engineering unit of the military commandant's office and security personnel are taking forensic tests of the evidence, Khamidov said.