Russian officials increased their suspect list yesterday to include three ‘black widow’ suspects.
Images of suspects released by Russian authorities. Clockwise from top left: Oksana Aslanova, Dzannet Tsakhaeva, Zaira Allieva, Murad Musaev and Ruslan Saufutdinov. (NBC)
NBC reported:
Russian security officials are hunting for three more young Muslim women — so-called “black widow” terror suspects — who they believe are planning to target the final stages of the Olympic torch relay with suicide bomb attacks.
Wanted posters distributed by police say that the women have been dispatched by underground groups to attack between Tuesday and Thursday in Rostov-on-Don, where the torch is expected to arrive Wednesday on its way to the Olympic city of Sochi.
The posters warn that the suspected terrorists may wear clothes that do not adhere to Islamic tradition, such as long dresses and hijabs, so that they can blend and “infiltrate into places with mass gatherings without hindrances.”
The posters ask for help finding the women: Zaira Alieva, 26, and Jhannet Tsakhaeva, 34, both from the restive Russian region of Dagestan, and Oksana Aslanova, 26, from Turkmenistan.
In addition, wanted posters seen by NBC News on Tuesday identify two men — Ruslan Saufutdinov, 21, and Murad Musaev, 25 — who the posters say are planning attacks in southern Russia.
Islamists promised more deadly attacks during the Sochi Games in a video released this week.