Russian security services are believed to be looking for as many as four “black widows”, the wives of Islamist terrorists killed by authorities.  They’ve reportedly been dispatched to attack sites related to next month’s Winter Olympics – and one of them is believed to be in or near the Olympic city of Sochi.

Authorities are circulating “wanted” posters around Sochi, showing photos of four women suspected of being engaged in terrorist plots against the Olympics in order to press the independence causes of separatist Muslim populations in the Caucasus Mountains.  One of them is identified as Ruzana Ibragimova, believed to have arrived in Sochi on 10 January and spotted in town in recent days. 

This comes as Islamists posted a video to a well-known Dagestan separatist website taunting Russian officials and promising to strike at the games.

“As for your Olympics, something that you want so much, we also have a present for you,” says one of two men posed in from of jihadist flags.  “And for those tourists who will come, inshallah, for these tourists there is also a present,” one says, using the Arabic phrase for “God willing.”

The two claimed responsibility for deadly suicide attacks in Volgograd last month, killing 34 people at the city’s main train station and on a commuter bus.

 

(You may see some media outlets referring to these women as “black widows”, and other outlets referring to them as “white widows”.  CareerSpot is going with “black widows” for the time being.)