During the week of January 23-29, 15 persons fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the period of January 23-29, at least 15 persons were killed and 5 persons were wounded in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on own materials of the edition and information from other open sources.

During the past week, six staff members of different power agencies were killed, including five in Dagestan and one in Kabardino-Balkaria. Three power agents were wounded, all of them in Dagestan. Nine suspected members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) were killed, including five of them in Dagestan, three in Ingushetia, and one in Chechnya.

Two civilians were wounded minor children in Dagestan.

At least eight persons four in Chechnya, two in Dagestan, one in Kabardino-Balkaria, and one in Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) were detained on suspicion of involvement in the IAFs and for illegal possession of weapons.

Explosions and terror acts

On January 28, two children born in 1998 and 2006 were wounded in an explosion in Makhachkala. The first explosive device was actuated at about 8:20 p.m. near the house No. 12 in Shamil Avenue. The unidentified persons threw a package out of a Lada Priora car; and after that an explosion occurred. When the policemen arrived at the crime scene and organized a cordon, the second explosion occurred in a garbage can near the police cordon. A 12-year-old Timur Bagalov and a 10-year-old Gadji Nasrudinov were delivered to the Republic's Clinical Hospital with wounds. The affected children lived in one of the houses in that street. Police officers detained the drivers of a VAZ-2112 car, who fled from the scene of two explosions. The car was driven by a resident of the village of Urkarakh of the Dakhadaev District.

Attacks on power agents

On January 26, a serviceman was killed in an attack to the secondary school in Nalchik, committed by a group of militants. At about 9:00 p.m., three unidentified persons in masks armed with two pistols with silencers and submachine gun broke into a gym of the secondary school No. 19. At that time, seven persons aged 25-30 years were playing volleyball in the gym. The attackers ordered everyone to lie on the floor and tied their hands, after that they cut throat of one of the volleyball players. The victim was a 26-year-old Senior Lieutenant Denis Nikolaev, a pilot-navigator of the helicopter flight of the military unit No. 15650. According to investigators, the assassination was likely committed by members of the underground.

Police Mayor was killed in car shelling in the village of Chapaevo of the Kumtorkala District of Dagestan. Attackers shot at the officer from a submachine gun, when he arrived at the house and came out of the car. The victim Kurban Akhmedov worked at the Centre for Combating Extremism in the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) as an operational investigator.

Armed clashes and special operations

On January 27, three persons suspected of involvement in the IAFs were killed in the special operation in the village of Ekazhevo (the Nazran District of Ingushetia). None of power agents suffered. In place of the special operation, power agents found an improvised explosive device (IED) with capacity of about 15 kg of TNT equivalent, which was destroyed in place, and near the house they found a hiding with weapons, ammunition, and "a suicide bomber's belt". According to the National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC), one of the killed persons was identified as Djamaleil Mutaliev, the head of the armed underground of the republic and one of the leaders of the North-Caucasian underground "Imarat Kavkaz". The second deceased was identified as a 23-year-old Bekkhan Ganiev. The NAC treats him as "the right hand of the leader of the Malgobek grouping." According to resident of the village of Ekazhevo, the third deceased was Adam Katsiev, a disabled person, a wheelchair user. The power agents called him an accomplice of the militants.

In the Urus-Martan District of Chechnya, power agents killed an armed man who rendered resistance during his detention. At night on January 23, on the outskirts of the village of Goi-Chu power agents found a member of the IAF. When requested to surrender, he rendered armed resistance and was killed in a fire fight. None of the participants of the special operation was injured. When the power agents searched the killed man, they found and confiscated a Kalashnikov submachine gun, a Stechkin automatic pistol with plenty of ammunition for them and a home-made grenade (known as "khattabka"). Besides, in the pocket of clothes of the killed man the power agents found a parcel with several grams of drug. According to the police, investigators have all reasons to consider that the deceased man intended to commit a major terror act. In the course of the examination of the crime scene, investigators found a home-made explosive device of high capacity.

Four servicemen from the internal troops of the MIA were killed and three were wounded in armed clash on the outskirts of the farm yard Ukrainsky of the Kizlyar District of Dagestan. Five suspected militants were killed. According to the NAC, five members of the armed underground killed in the special operation in the Kizlyar District of Dagestan were involved in the Kizlyar grouping of militants, which had committed a series of terror acts.

Detentions

In the Nozhai-Yurt District of Chechnya, law enforcement agents detained a local resident, who, according to the MIA, in 2005 rendered assistance to members of the IAFs. On January 23, in the district centre of Nozhai-Yurt, staff members of the local ROVD (District Interior Division) detained a 26-year-old local man, who, according to law enforcement officials, in 2005 was an accomplice of IAFs. The detainee confessed that during the specified period of time he provided with food members of one of the IAFs acting in the Nozhai-Yurt District.

On January 22, in the course of investigatory operations, officers of the Dagestani police detained Mail Mameev, a resident of the village of Usukhchai of the Dokuzpara District. During his detention the man rendered armed resistance. No one was wounded. The detainee had a pistol which was found by policemen.

In Cherkessk, in the course of conducting joint activities to establish the whereabouts of accomplices of IAFs, officers from the MIA and the Department of the FSB of Karachay-Cherkessia detained Umar Baichorov suspected of aiding members of IAFs. According to the MIA of KChR, Umar Baichorov was a member of a grouping led by Islam Uzdenov, who was killed in the special operation held in December 2011.

A resident of the Vedeno District of Chechnya was detained by law enforcement agents on suspicion of aiding members of IAFs. The 47-year-old local resident, who was detained on January 25 in the village of Dargo, confessed to the fact that in 2004 he provided direct assistance to members of one of the IAFs acting in the district. The man bought for them articles of food, which he then delivered with his car "GAZ-66" to the pre-specified place the forest area near the village , from where the food was then picked up by militants.

In the Grozny District of Chechnya, law enforcement agents detained a 30-year-old resident of the Vedeno District on suspicion of aiding members of the IAFs. The young man detained by power agents in the village of Berkat-Yurt in the period of 2002-2003 rendered assistance to members of the IAFs, providing them with food.

On January 23, Chechen law enforcement agents detained a resident of the town of Argun, during the search in whose house they found weapons and ammunition. In the house of the 20-year-old resident the law enforcement agents found a Kalashnikov submachine gun, a "Kedr" (Cedar) machine pistol, two Makarov pistols, a traumatic pistol, 130 shells for small-arms weapon, an army bayonet, components for manufacturing of explosive devices, a load-bearing vest, a flashing light for a car and six license number plates. The young man was detained.

During a search in the house of a resident of Cherek District of Kabardino-Balkaria, policemen found and confiscated two IEDs and a brochure on their manufacturing. The first IED was uncovered one without damaging elements and comprised a mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminium powder with a fragment of a TNT charge. The bomb mass in TNT equivalent was about 400 grams. The second IED was also uncovered one and it was packed with damaging elements. The TNT equivalent was about 500 grams. The bomb was made on the base of a TNT charge and plastic explosive (plastid). The confiscated items were sent for examination; the man was detained.

Kidnappings

Tamara Alieva, a resident of Makhachkala, reported on kidnapping of Sirazhudin Aliev, her 23-year-old son committed by unidentified persons in camouflage and masks. The press service of the Dagestani MIA reported that they knew nothing about the incident.

Magomed Magomedov, a resident of Makhachkala, born in 1988, who disappeared in the evening of January 20, is kept at the Centre for Combating Extremism (CCE) of the capital of Dagestan. This was reported by Inzhai Magomedova, the mother of the young man.

Adam Gagiev, a resident of the village of Ekazhevo of the Nazran District, who disappeared on January 5 in Ingushetia, was found at the social rehabilitation centre in Moscow. On January 25, policemen informed relatives of Adam Gagiev that he was found at the social and rehabilitation centre "Krasnoselsky" of the Central Administrative District of Moscow.