Armed group neutralized in Azerbaijan linked to Al-Qaeda

A criminal group neutralized previously in Azerbaijan has been linked to Al Qaeda, the Public Relations' centre of the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan told Trend on Wednesday.

As a result of a special operation conducted by the Ministry of National Security (MNS), an armed group which planned a series of sabotage and subversion and terrorist acts to disrupt social stability and create panic among the population in Azerbaijan was neutralized.

It was found that in the summer of 2011, Azerbaijani citizen Vugar Padarov created an armed group in order to prepare for sabotage and subversion and terrorist acts and supplied its members with firearms, ammunition, explosives and other military equipment.

It was found that some members of the armed group with the help of representatives of the Al Qaeda international terrorist organization have previously undergone special religious and psychological training in school-madrassas in Syria to participate in jihad. Then some members of the armed group arrived in the Pakistani province of Waziristan. After undergoing military and religious training for a few months within the Islami-Jihad terrorist group, which is a member of the Al Qaeda international terrorist organization, they were trained to fire from various weapons, artillery and missiles, mortars, to create explosives and lay mines. Then these individuals as part of the Islami-Jihad terrorist group participated in military operations against international anti-terrorist coalition forces in the provinces of Paktika and Paktia, Khost, Kandahar and Helmand in Afghanistan.