Sixteen militants were killed in the first quarter of 2017, including two group leaders, according to Chechnya’s Interior Ministry. The announcement on 24 April was part of the ministry’s report into all its activities over the last three months.

The ministry detained 37 people accused participating in illegal armed groups involved in terrorist activities, including one leader, as well as 14 other accomplices, the ministry claims. Three ‘extremist crimes’ have been carried out in 2017, they continued.

Large numbers of weapons and ammunition were also seized from illegal armed groups, from 11 separate caches, the ministry claims. This included 53 firearms, around 4,000 rounds of ammunition, 34 explosive shells, 30 landmines, 57 grenades and grenade launchers, 3 improvised explosive devices, and 31,600 kg of explosives.

Minister of Internal Affairs Ruslan Alkhanov praised the ministry’s ‘high level of preparedness’, claiming that the total detection rate for all crimes in the republic was 96.4%, which is the best from all territorial bodies within Russia.