Terrorist Threat At Sochi Games: Russian Authorities Search For Potential Black Widow Suicide Bomber

Russian police are looking for a potential suicide bomber who may have made it past security checks at the site of the upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi, according to ABC News and NBC News. Pictures of a 22-year-old woman identified as Ruzanna Ibragimova were passed out and posters were placed by authorities at Sochi’s airport. The suspect is a widow of a militant reportedly killed by police last year in her home of Dagestan, a federal subject of Russia.

Ibragimova, possibly using the nickname Salima, is reportedly affiliated with the Caucasus Emirate, a terrorist group led by Doku Umarov that has threatened the Sochi Winter Olympics. She is one of four possible “black widow” threats affiliated with the terror group Russian authorities are searching for. Wanted posters describe Ibragimova as “having a limp in her right leg, a left arm that does not bend at the elbow, and a four-inch scar on her check,” according to reports by USA Today.

Black widows, such as female suicide bombers, are terrorists that do not fit the stereotype of the standard militant terrorist. The Caucasus Emirate are known to commonly use black widows to cause panic and destruction. Another woman from Dagestan, suspected in the Volgograd bus bombing that killed six people and left others injured in October, was a black widow for the Caucasus Emirate.

News of this potential terrorist threat comes a day after a video was released from two separate Islamic terrorists saying they will also target the Games. In the video, the two terrorists, identified as Suleiman and Abdurakhman, claim responsibility for last month’s twin suicide bombings in Volgograd that killed 34 people and threatens the Winter Olympics, saying, “As for your Olympics, something that you want so much, we also have a present for you."

These reports raise questions about what Russian President Valdimir Putin has called the “Ring of Steel,” the security set up in Sochi that is supposedly impenetrable by Russian terrorist groups. However, considering that Ibragimova may have already infiltrated the Sochi Games, officials in countries around the world are concerned about the safety of their athletes and citizens that may travel to Sochi. The Olympic Games are less than two weeks away, scheduled to start on Feb. 7.