Russian Interior Minister: Police averted Grozny terrorist attack

The Chechen Interior Ministry told RIA Novosti on Saturday that officers had found a passport and a medical insurance certificate in the name of Zatir Abdulzaliyev at the scene of the Grozny terrorist attack on Friday. Abdulizaliyev was on the federal wanted list. According to preliminary reports, the documents belonged to the suicide bomber, who was in the lorry packed with explosives.

In his turn, Chechen Prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko said that a preliminary investigation's information suggested there was a man and a woman in the driver's cab.

The explosion occurred on Friday afternoon close to the building of the republic's Department for the Fight against Organised Crime and Criminal Investigation. Fifteen policemen were hospitalised with various degrees of wounds.

The terrorists attempted to drive their KamAZ lorry into the building's compound.

However, Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov told journalists that federal servicemen had managed to prevent a terrorist attack, as, after the lorry failed to obey an order to stop, it became clear that the driver had obvious "criminal intentions" forcing guards to open fire. This caused the blast.

"The police acted decisively and bravely and averted a terrorist attack similar to the explosion at the administrative building in Grozny last December," the minister said.