GROZNY, Russia, March 23 (UPI) -- The Chechen prosecutor's office has opened a formal inquiry into a suspected terror plot against the republic's prime minister.
Explosives were found Tuesday along the route of Prime Minister Sergei Abramov's motorcade in downtown Grozny, Interfax reported Wednesday.
Chechen police officials said an initial investigation gave them sufficient grounds to open a formal criminal inquiry, Deputy Chechen Prosecutor Alexander Nikitin told Interfax.
"There are no doubts that the projectiles were recently planted exactly to prepare a terrorist attack," he said.
Abramov, the leader of the rebellious little autonomous republic in the Caucasus region of the Russian Federation, claimed the projectiles were hard evidence of a terrorist plot to assassinate him.
However, other officials have been more cautious. Russian and Chechen law enforcement agencies and the headquarters of the Combined Federal Forces in Chechnya said the projectiles had been in the trash at the scene for several months before they were found and the discovery cannot be tied to the fact the prime minister happened to be passing by on Tuesday.
