MOSCOW: Russia’s intelligence agency yesterday said it had arrested members of an Islamic State group “cell” which was preparing terror attacks. The FSB said in a statement it had “thwarted the illegal activities of... the international terrorist organization Islamic State” on September 30, by detaining all members of a cell in the Moscow region. It said they were all from Muslimmajority republics in the Caucasus but took orders from “foreign emissaries” pledging allegiance to IS. An FSB representative later told Russian media that two of the men arrested were brothers from Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, in the north Caucasus. “One is 22 years old, the other is 19,” the FSB employee said. The group was planning “significant” terror acts in Russia, including in densely populated places and on public transport, the statement said, without specifying the number held.