Security forces have prevented a string of terror attacks after defusing nine bombs at an illegal laboratory in Nalchik, the capital of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said on Wednesday.
"The total mass of improvised explosive devices was over 100 kg of TNT equivalent. According to bomb experts, an explosion of that power would have destroyed a whole city block," the committee said in a statement.
The laboratory where the bombs were produced was located in a garage in Nalchik, the capital of the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, and was discovered by policemen early Wednesday.
All the bombs were taken to a secure area and destroyed, the committee added.
Sporadic terrorist attacks and militant clashes are common in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus republics. Nalchik witnessed a pitched battle in 2005 between around 150 local militants and police and security forces.The attackers killed 35 policemen and soldiers and 14 civilians but lost 92 of their own men.
Russia has been fighting militants in the North Caucasus for over a decade, including two separatist wars in Chechnya.