Russia foils chemical plant attack

Two hard-line Muslims suspected of planning to attack a chemical weapons plant have been arrested in Russia.

The country’s Investigative Committee said the evidence against the men from the North Caucasus, aged 19 and 21, includes “components for the preparation of explosive materials” found in an abandoned house in the Kirov region.

It said the men’s plan to attack the Maradykovsky storage and disposal plant in Kirov would have risked “the deaths of hundreds.”

The committee has not named the men but said they were “proponents of Wahhabism” – an ultra-conservative form of Islam – and that “extremist literature” was found at their home.

The North Caucasus, a predominantly Muslim region in Russia’s south, faces a growing Islamic insurgency.