Post by Admin on Jan 21, 2014 7:21:27 GMT
Police in Sochi have launched an urgent search for a possible female suicide bomber who may have already made it past the ring of security set up for the Olympic Games.
Hotel employees in Sochi told ABC News that posters with pictures and descriptions of a 22-year-old woman from nearby Dagestan were distributed over the weekend by authorities and a similar flyer was also seen posted at Sochi's airport.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Olympic Committee reacted to the revelation by saying that the safety of Team USA is their "top priority." "As is always the case, we are working with the U.S. Department of State, the local organizers and the relevant law enforcement agencies in an effort to ensure that our delegation and other Americans traveling to Sochi are safe," spokesperson Patrick Sandusky said.
The woman featured on the wanted posters is identified as Ruzanna Ibragimova, using the nickname Salima, the widow of a militant reportedly killed in a shoot-out with police last year in Dagestan.
Official: U.S. military at the ready as 'contingency plan'
The U.S. military will have up to two warships and several transport aircraft on standby under a contingency plan to help evacuate American officials and athletes from the Winter Olympics, if ordered, a U.S. official said Monday. The State Department would take the lead in organizing and evacuating Americans, if necessary, the official with direct knowledge of the plan told CNN.
Moscow would have to ask for such assistance before the United States would act, the official said.
But planes and ships are clearly there "if something happens like a major terrorist attack and we need to get Americans out," the official said. U.S. contingency planning calls for warships to launch helicopters to Sochi from the Black Sea. C-17 transport aircraft would be on standby in Germany and could be on the scene in about two hours. Other aircraft contracted to the State Department would also play a role in any emergency.
Images of suspects released by Russian authorities. Clockwise from top left: Oksana Aslanova, Dzannet Tsakhaeva, Zaira Allieva, Murad Musaev and Ruslan Saufutdinov.
Russian security officials are hunting for three more young Muslim women — so-called “black widow” terror suspects — who they believe are planning to target the final stages of the Olympic torch relay with suicide bomb attacks. Wanted posters distributed by police say that the women have been dispatched by underground groups to attack between Tuesday and Thursday in Rostov-on-Don, where the torch is expected to arrive Wednesday on its way to the Olympic city of Sochi.
Hotel employees in Sochi told ABC News that posters with pictures and descriptions of a 22-year-old woman from nearby Dagestan were distributed over the weekend by authorities and a similar flyer was also seen posted at Sochi's airport.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Olympic Committee reacted to the revelation by saying that the safety of Team USA is their "top priority." "As is always the case, we are working with the U.S. Department of State, the local organizers and the relevant law enforcement agencies in an effort to ensure that our delegation and other Americans traveling to Sochi are safe," spokesperson Patrick Sandusky said.
The woman featured on the wanted posters is identified as Ruzanna Ibragimova, using the nickname Salima, the widow of a militant reportedly killed in a shoot-out with police last year in Dagestan.
Official: U.S. military at the ready as 'contingency plan'
The U.S. military will have up to two warships and several transport aircraft on standby under a contingency plan to help evacuate American officials and athletes from the Winter Olympics, if ordered, a U.S. official said Monday. The State Department would take the lead in organizing and evacuating Americans, if necessary, the official with direct knowledge of the plan told CNN.
Moscow would have to ask for such assistance before the United States would act, the official said.
But planes and ships are clearly there "if something happens like a major terrorist attack and we need to get Americans out," the official said. U.S. contingency planning calls for warships to launch helicopters to Sochi from the Black Sea. C-17 transport aircraft would be on standby in Germany and could be on the scene in about two hours. Other aircraft contracted to the State Department would also play a role in any emergency.
Images of suspects released by Russian authorities. Clockwise from top left: Oksana Aslanova, Dzannet Tsakhaeva, Zaira Allieva, Murad Musaev and Ruslan Saufutdinov.
Russian security officials are hunting for three more young Muslim women — so-called “black widow” terror suspects — who they believe are planning to target the final stages of the Olympic torch relay with suicide bomb attacks. Wanted posters distributed by police say that the women have been dispatched by underground groups to attack between Tuesday and Thursday in Rostov-on-Don, where the torch is expected to arrive Wednesday on its way to the Olympic city of Sochi.