U.S. counterterrorism operatives are helping Russian
security agents in the hunt for four female potential terrorists, including a
"white widow" -- the wife of a dead terrorist -- who could already be
inside the massive security zone set up for next month's winter Olympics.
Ruzanna Ibragimova, the 22-year-old widow of a jihadist
killed by Russian security forces, is believed to have traveled from Dagestan
to Sochi, according to a Russian security bulletin obtained by FoxNews.com,
along with photos of her. The bulletin and photos were distributed by the
Russian security force FSB and Sochi security officials to U.S. and other
security agencies late last week.
"The notice is the first sign that terrorists may have
managed to penetrate the security cordon," stated a bulletin from U.S.
security forces that was obtained by FoxNews.com.
An intelligence source who spoke to FoxNews.com called
Ibragimova a "white widow," and explained that the term is used to
jihadists' widows who seek to "blend in" to mount attacks. But the
term "black widow" is also prevalent as a description particularly of
Chechen widows whose husbands have been killed in the ongoing fight against Russia.
U.S. forces are working with their Russian counterparts
inside the massive, 1,500-mile security zone set up to prevent attacks during
next month's games. Sochi security
officials are "looking for as many as four women," a source told
FoxNews.com.
“According to our information, Ms. Ibragimova may be used by
the ringleaders of illegal armed groups for the organization of terrorist acts
in the zone of the 2014 Olympics,” read a bulletin put out by the FSB, which
has also been distributed to hotels in the Sochi area.
Ibragimova is believed to have traveled to Sochi on Jan. 11,
or the next day. She was spotted recently on the street outside the foreign
ministry near Sochi, a source told FoxNews.com. She was described as a white
widow and known member of a Chechen jihadist group.
"Russia has deployed 40,000 police and security
personnel in a "ring of steel" around Sochi to deter attacks by
Islamist militants from the nearby North Caucasus republics," the U.S.
bulletin states.
U.S. and international experts have become increasingly
concerned about security in the zone, in light of recent attacks and a call
from Doku Umarov, the jihadist leader who has been described as Russia’s Bin
Laden, for attacks and to stop Russia from hosting the games.
“We have our athletes over there and they are targets, so
practically all our terrorism and national security agencies are operating over
there,” the source said, explaining U.S. security and intelligence agency’s
involvement in counterterror operations leading up to and during the Olympic
games.
On Sunday, a video was posted online by a group identifying
itself as Vilayat Dagestan by two men claiming responsibility for recent
suicide bombings of a train station and bus that killed 34 people in Volgograd.
In the video, the men warn that other suicide attacks will follow.
"We'll have a surprise package for you," the men
in the video said. "And those tourists that will come to you, for them,
too, we have a surprise…This will be our revenge."
The video was released one day before the Olympic torch
relay is scheduled to go through Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad. U.S.
officials are studying the video, according to security officials.
On Jan. 9, Russian officials in Stavropol, about 300 miles
from Sochi, caught a suspected would-be suicide bomber from the Muslim region
of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, reportedly traveling with a small boy and equipped
with a suicide bomb belt. The Russian FSB is still interrogating the woman,
sources told FoxNews.com.
"In addition to the failed suicide-bomb plot, Russian
authorities are also searching for Islamist militants suspected of killing six
people throughout the region," according to a security memo. "On
January 9, 2014, authorities found the bodies of three men and explosive material
in a vehicle in Maryinskaya, a Stavropol province. On January 8, 2014, a
vehicle containing a body exploded in Tambukan, in the same province, and two
other bodies
were found in other vehicles in Zolskaya a day
earlier."
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