Georgian officials commemorate “heroic” death of officer in counter-terrorism operation
The suspected terrorists were planning to attack diplomatic missions in Georgia and Turkey, which was confirmed by the evidence seized during the operation, including audio recordings that proved they were planning terrorist attacks in the two countries. Photo via State Security Service
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Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri and Grigol Liluashvili, the Head of the State Security Service, on Wednesday honoured the memory of Ivane Golashvili, an Officer of the Special Operation Forces, who had been killed during a 22-hour-long counter-terrorism operation six years ago on Gabriel Salosi Street in Tbilisi.
Golashvili was posthumously awarded the Vakhtang Gorgasali First Degree Medal and the Security Service’s Medal for Bravery in 2018.
The Islamic State-linked counter-terrorist operation saw two suspects killed, while Russian citizen of Chechen origin, Ahmed Chataev exploded himself, who was named as “a mastermind” of the deadly terrorist attack on the Ataturk Airport in 2016 in Turkey, claiming 48 lives and injuring more than 230.
The suspected terrorists were planning to attack diplomatic missions in Georgia and Turkey, which was confirmed by the evidence seized during the operation, including audio recordings that proved they were planning terrorist attacks in the two countries.
The only surviving suspect of a large-scale operation, which was carried out in the scope of international counter-terrorist cooperation, was charged with terrorist activities, while the SSS also arrested five individuals, a few months after the operation, for charges related to financing terrorism, provision of other material support and resources to terrorist activities.
The suspected terrorists killed in the Tbilisi counter-terrorist operation on November 22 were planning to attack diplomatic missions in Georgia and Turkey, says the Georgian State Security Service. The Service revealed the results of the ongoing investigation this afternoon.
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSS) has confirmed that one of the three killed suspects in the Tbilisi counter-terrorist operation on November 22 is an Islamic State-linked, Russia citizen of Chechen origin, Ahmed Chataev. SSS stated that two suspects were killed by Georgian law enforcers, while "Chataev exploded himself.”
The United States will help Georgia investigate the case in which an anti-terror operation was held to neutralise suspected terrorists in Tbilisi last week.
One suspected terrorist has been arrested and three killed during today’s anti-terrorist operation on Gabriel Salosi Street in Tbilisi, the State Security Service announced a short time ago. Nino Giorgobiani, press speaker of the State Security Service, described in a detailed statement how the operation was conducted and how many people were arrested.
The State Security Service of Georgia announced a short time ago that the special operation to arrest suspected terrorists in Tbilisi has officially ended. The officer from the Special Operations Forces, who wounded during the operation, died in hospital.