AFP MOSCOW RUSSIAN security forces in the southern city of Astrakhan said on Sunday they had foiled plans by an extremist group linked to radical Islamists to carry out attacks during Victory Day holidays.

Regional police said in a statement that they had “stopped activities of members of a religious extremist group that was planning to carry out terrorist attacks during the days of celebrating victory in World War II.” Police said they attempted to detain a suspected 30-yearold militant in the city on the Volga delta late Saturday in a joint operation with forces from the Federal Security Service (FSB).

He attempted to trigger an explosive device, and they opened fire, killing him.

Security forces simultaneously detained other suspected members of an insurgent group and confiscated “a significant amount of weapons” and explosives, as well as evidence that they were planning attacks, police said.

The dead suspect was carrying a hand grenade and a homemade revolver and had a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and ammunition at his home, investigators said, while grenades and firearms were found at the homes of other suspects.

The Investigative Committee linked the detained suspects to radical Islamists, saying they were also suspected of harbouring a man wanted for earlier attacks on police that it has blamed on “extremist” Muslims.

Two police officers were shot dead and three wounded last summer in Astrakhan in bold street attacks.

Investigators have said the three suspects in the police attacks are followers of a “radical, extremist” form of Islam.

Two have been killed in special operations in Astrakhan and the North Caucasus region of Dagestan.

Russia and other ex-Soviet states celebrate Victory Day on May 9, a day later than VE Day is celebrated in other European countries.

This year’s military parade on Red Square will feature around 20,000 servicemen and more than 100 tanks and missiles.

More than 40 people died in 2002 when a landmine was detonated during a Victory Day parade in the town of Kaspiisk in Dagestan.

In a separate incident on Sunday, a soldier and three armed suspects were killed as security forces raided a suspected rebel camp in Dagestan’s Kizlyar region.

“While scouring the area, local security officers spotted three armed men, who were destroyed in a gun battle,” a police source told the ITARTASS news agency.

During the operation, an interior ministry soldier was killed and three police were slightly wounded, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.