04.10 Extremist Group
MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) Police in downtown Moscow have detained a Kyrgyz national suspected of recruiting new members of an extremist group active in the Russian capital, a local police source said Friday.
The suspect was detained late last week at a Moscow mosque while allegedly trying to recruit members to the Hizb-ut Tahrir al-Islami (The Party of Islamic Liberation), an international Islamist group banned in Russia.
The Russian Interior Ministry has confirmed the detention, but has not revealed any further details.
Hizb-ut Tahrir says its aim is to lead the worlds Muslims so that Islam encapsulates the world, according to the groups website. Russias Supreme Court banned the group as a terrorist organization in 2003.
The groups members are regularly detained in Russia. In late August, four alleged Islamist terrorists from the southern Urals Republic of Bashkortostan were arrested and charged with preparing a coup, Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) said.
