Four militants who tried to abdicate visitors of the Orthodox Church of St. Michael Church have been neutralised, Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov informed reporters on Saturday (19/05/2018). The families of victims will receive aid.

“The militants entered St. Michael Church, intending to abdicate churchgoers,” he said. “All four militants were neutralized in a special operation.”

A policeman died from injuries, and one churchgoer was severely injured, Kadyrov continued. (Some media sources indicated two killed policemen).

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“According to the latest information, the militants received the order from a Western country,” Kadyrov said.

The leader of Chechnya added that he immediately arrived at the scene of the incident, where he “directly controlled the special operation, which took just a few minutes.”

“Measures are taken to identify the neutralised militants, and the incident site was cordoned off by law enforcement officers,” Kadyrov said.

A Chechen law enforcement source informed that one churchgoer was killed and the other seriously injured, and at them moment is in intensive care. The police cordon around the church was lifted soon after the end of the special force operation.