Russia: 2 Muslim men arrested on suspicion of planning attack on chemical weapons facility

MOSCOW – Russian investigators say they have arrested two hard-line Muslim men from the North Caucasus who are suspected of planning to attack a chemical weapons storage and disposal facility.

Russia's Investigative Committee says the evidence against the men, ages 19 and 21, includes "components for the preparation of explosive materials" found in an abandoned house in the Kirov region.

In a statement Tuesday, the committee says the men's alleged plan to attack the Maradykovsky facility in Kirov would have risked "the deaths of hundreds."

The committee doesn't name the men but alleges they were "proponents of Wahhabism" — an ultra-conservative form of Islam — and that "extremist literature" was found at their residence.

The North Caucasus, a predominantly Muslim region in Russia's south, has been roiled by a growing Islamic insurgency.