Militant who mined imam's car detained in Chechnya

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A militant has been detained in the Chechen city of Argun, a source in the law enforcement agencies told Interfax.

 The unemployed man is believed to have placed an explosive device under a Toyota owed by the city's imam. He is also suspected of being a member of a militant group led by Zakayev in March-September 2011.

 A probe is underway, the source said.

 On September 13, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reported the prevention of an assassination attempt against the imam of the Argun mosque in Chechnya.

 "A terrorist attack has been prevented in the city of Argun by the FSB [Federal Security Service] and Interior Ministry departments for the Chechen Republic with the National Antiterrorist Committee's operational headquarters' coordinating role," NAC spokesman Nikolay Sintsov told Interfax.

 The local police department received a report at 12:35 p.m. Moscow time on the discovery of a suspicious object under a Toyota car belonging to the imam of a local mosque, he said.

 Police cordoned off the area. Demolition experts and dog handlers from the FSB and Interior Ministry departments for Chechnya examined the car and discovered an improvised explosive device equivalent to about 700 grams of TNT underneath it, Sintsov said.

 The bomb was destroyed using a water cannon. No civilians or law enforcement officials were injured in the process, he said.

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