Latest information from Chechen Interior Ministry

Ruslan Atsayev, a spokesman for the Chechen Interior Ministry, refuted press reports that a terrorist plot to blow up the Chechen State Construction Committee building had been thwarted.

He said that the shell with a detonator that was found yesterday near 14 Pobedy Prospekt in Grozny had not been placed under or inside the committee's building. The shell was most likely left over from military operations in the district.

Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, the spokesman for the regional antiterrorism headquarters in the North Caucasus, said three active militants had voluntarily surrendered in Chechnya on Wednesday. One of them, Bislan Magomadov, said that he surrendered because two months ago his group of seven men, which was active in the Gudermes district, stopped receiving funding and food. The group lost contact with their commanders.

Mr. Magomadov said that the other members of the group were waiting to see what happens to him and that they also intend to surrender.

Also, law enforcement officers convinced Aslan Vakhayev, a militant, to surrender.

Mr. Vakhayev said that his group consisted of no more than 12 people and that it was currently operating on the border of the Shatoi, Achkhoi Martan and Sunzhen districts.

According to the militant, the rest of the group intends to join Doku Umarov's group. Umarov succeeded Ruslan Gelayev, after his death, and now does not have any difficulties with finances or ammunition.

On Wednesday, Chechen law enforcement officers detained several militants.

One of the detained men is a member of Doku Umarov's group and is a 21-year-old local resident known as "Takhid" and "Abdurrakhman."

In the Shali district, the presidential security service and Chechen law enforcement officers detained two local residents - Isa Israilov and Mussa Nukhayev - who supplied food and information about law enforcement bodies' actions to a militant group led by "Asad." The group is active in the Shali district.

The presidential security service also conducted a successful operation to detain Aslakhan Sadayev, the brother of the emir of the Achkhoi Martan district Isa Sadayev. Aslakhan Sadayev participated in an attack on law enforcement officers in 2002.

He was the militants' messenger and controlled the money that militants were paid for subversive acts and terrorism.

Also, a militant base was destroyed in the Shali district on Wednesday. The police found 2 radio-controlled devices for homemade bombs, 14 shells, 4 sub-machineguns and 2 machineguns.