Two more suspects detained in relation to Nemtsov's death

Russian security authorities confirmed Monday they had detained another two suspects in connection with the murder of former deputy Russian prime minister Boris Nemtsov.

The two suspects were caught in a special operation carried out Sunday evening in Shelkovskoy District of Russia's Chechen Republic, Russian news agency Rosbalt quoted a source of law enforcement department as saying.

Altogether seven suspects have been detained till now, as Moscow's Basmanny District Court ruled Sunday to formally arrest Zaur Dadayev and four other suspects in relation to Nemtsov's murder.

The law enforcement source said that the telephone records showed active contacts of the two suspects with Dadayev, who on Sunday confessed his involvement in the murder, before and during the execution of the plan to murder Nemtsov late last month.

Security agencies are studying whether the two suspects have been directly involved in the murder before pressing for their formal arrests, according to the source.

Dadayev's testimony indicated that he organized the crime. Being a pious Muslim, Dadayev might be angered "by Nemtsov's controversial remarks about Islam," Interfax news agency quoted another source as saying.

Earlier in the day, Interfax news agency reported that "results of forensic tests, obtained by law enforcement bodies, give reasons to believe that Dadayev was the man who shot Nemtsov," but it also warned that the preliminary conclusion, however, can only be extra certain when the weapon is found.

The law enforcement source also disclosed that they were investigating the possibility of foreign forces' involvement, as they had found "foreign contacts of the Nemtsov murder suspects."

The spokesman of the Republic of Ingushetia's security council in Russia's North Caucasus region confirmed Sunday that Dadayev had served as a deputy commander of one battalion unit of the Chechen Republic's Internal Affairs Ministry.

Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead at about midnight on Feb. 27 near the Kremlin at the heart of Moscow, the Russian national capital, when he was strolling with Anna Duritskaya, a Ukrainian model.

Putin vowed earlier to do everything to bring to justice those responsible for the death of Nemtsov. Enditem