Police in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya have detained a 19-year-old woman who they say was recruited by an extremist group to carry out a suicide attack in neighboring Dagestan, a spokesman for the Chechen Interior Ministry told RIA Novosti.

The woman, a resident of the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, was arrested in the Chechen capital Grozny. Police also seized what they said was a martyrdom letter addressed to the woman’s relatives along with extremist literature, the spokesman said.

The woman had maintained her innocence. She told police she was travelling to Dagestan to study Islam in a religious school.

None of her relatives knew about her trip, she said.

Police believe the woman’s actual aim was to carry out a suicide attack in Dagestan.

Commenting on the arrest, Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said extremists often use young people “to achieve their villainous and malicious goals.”

The would-be suicide bomber’s husband was in jail, and the recruiters have apparently “found the woman’s raw spot – her unfortunate personal life,” which they used to persuade her to carry out the attack.