Azerbaijan arrests 3 citizens on charges of plotting terrorist attack on foreign embassy

State Security Service says suspects were preparing attack on diplomatic mission, motivated by religious hostility

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The Azerbaijani State Security Service said on Tuesday that three citizens were arrested in the capital Baku for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on the embassy of a foreign country.

The security agency said in a statement that evidence was obtained indicating that the three Azerbaijani citizens were preparing the attack on an embassy in Baku, motivated by religious hostility. It did not name the country.

"During the operational-investigative measures carried out by the State Security Service (SSS), reasonable suspicions arose that citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan ... were preparing to commit a terrorist attack to the embassy of the foreign country in Baku on the grounds of religious hostility."

It added that the suspects were found to have established contact with members of the ISIS (Daesh) terrorist organization, acted in a prearranged group, and procured various objects to be used as weapons in the attack.

Security teams apprehended them as they approached the embassy's location.

The suspects were brought to a court and arrested on charges of planning the terrorist attack, and using objects that could serve as weapons.

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