For the week of April 11-17 armed conflict in Northern Caucasus took away 17 lives

During the week from April 11 to April 17, at least 17 persons were killed and at least 15 more were wounded in the glowing armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Eight casualties are power agents, eight - those suspected of involvement in the Islamist underground, and one peaceful woman. At least eleven power agents, three militants and a peaceful woman were injured.

Most of the casualties - twelve persons - perished in Dagestan, now the hottest spot of Russia and the Caucasus. Two persons perished in Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria each and one in Chechnya. Out of those injured, most - thirteen persons - suffered in Dagestan, and two - in Ingushetia.

These seven days saw seven armed clashes and three attacks on civilians. One possible terror act was prevented - FSB agents neutralized a bomb at a fuelling station in the village of Nechaevka, Kizilyurt District of Dagestan, which was supposedly planted by militants to persuade the owner of the station to give money "for the needs of jihad."

Last week, three fights took place in Dagestan, two - in Kabardino-Balkaria, and one - in Ingushetia and Chechnya each. Sixteen persons were lost in them: eight power agents and eight suspects of belonging to illegal armed formations (IAFs). Fourteen Russians were wounded in armed clashes: eleven law enforcers and three suspected militants.

The major battle took place on April 11 near the village of Kidero, Tsuntin District of the Republic of Dagestan, where five policemen and three suspected militants were lost, and seven power agents were wounded. The counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime was announced in a number of surrounding villages. A column of cars with law enforcers was undermined and shelled on the way back from a special operation in the Tsumandin District - three policemen were killed and three more injured. "When examining the venue, blood traces were detected; so, it is likely that some of the attackers were also wounded or killed," the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan has reported.

In Ingushetia, in the forest near the village of Muzhichi, an armed clash also burst out. As reported by the head of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov, two militants were killed and two more wounded. In Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya power agents killed three suspected IAF members, who, allegedly rendered resistance at detention. In the village of Chinar, Derbent District of Dagestan, one of the suspects of murder wounded a policeman at detention, and later tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest from a traumatic pistol.

Besides, three attacks on civilians and one civilian object were committed. In Dagestan, in Kaspiisk, unidentified persons broke into the apartment of an elderly woman and shot her dead allegedly for her engagement in quackery. In the city of Dagestanskie Ogni a man threw a grenade into the yard of a local woman and injured her; he was detained in hot pursuit. In an outskirt of the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the village of Khasanya, persons in masks burned down a grocery store; nobody was hurt.

Within the week at least 21 persons were detained on suspicion of involvement in IAFs or helping them: six in Chechnya, four in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia each, five in Dagestan and two in Ingushetia.

In the village of Pravokubanskiy, Karachay-Cherkessia, and in the Chegem District of Kabardino-Balkaria, eight alleged militants were arrested. In Dagestan, a man was detained, suspected of an armed attack on a woman; and two young villagers, who confessed that they were shooting at house windows.

In the village of Kidero in Dagestan, near which a strong fight happened, two men - Magdi Ramazanov and Gamzat Gamzatov - were detained. Their relatives turned to the Human Rights Centre "Memorial" claiming that after detention their whereabouts were not disclosed. Later, it became known that Ramazanov was released on April 18 from a temporary detention facility (IVS) of Makhachkala, while Gamzatov was still kept there; however, the charges presented to him remained unknown.

In Ingushetia, on April 14, policemen detained two young men, who raised their suspicion. About two hours later, after fingerprinting and a check, they were released from the GOVD (City Interior Division) of Nazran.

On April 11 in Chechnya, in the mountainous Vedeno and foothill Urus-Martan Districts, three men and a woman were detained as suspects of helping members of the armed underground. Two men aged 61 and 35 surrendered to the Shatoi ROVD (District Interior Division), where they confessed that in 2006 and 2007 they supplied food to militants.