Over one hundred peaceful residents perished in armed confrontations in Northern Caucasus in 2010

2010 in Northern Caucasus has been marked with a loss of over one hundred peaceful residents in armed confrontations. Some of them perished because of actions of members of the top brass. The number of victims can be even more if we take into consideration statements of relatives of the people who died in special operations and skirmishes, they say that their people became accidental victims or were kidnapped. 

In the passing 2010 the situation in North Caucasian republics has still remained tense. Besides, Kabardino-Balkaria where armed underground became more active, explosions got more frequent and the residents complain of illegal detentions and tortures by personnel of enforcement bodies joined Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan which last year remained the "hottest" regions. This is illustrated by grievous statistics of terror acts still going on in all the four districts, murders and kidnapping based on the data of staff correspondents of "Caucasian Knot" and open sources. 

This year in the territory of Dagestan no less than 54 peaceful residents were killed or became victims of acts of terror, a nine-year-old child who perished from a stray bullet during a counter-terrorist operation in the village of Kirovaul, Kizilyurt district, on December, 6, among them. Peaceful residents also become victims of disorderly firing by unknown people. In particular, an episode of this kind took place on August, 26, in Kizilyurt when some people fired out of a window of a home-produced car. As a result three wounded people were taken to hospital where two of them, unemployed residents of the town, died later on. A twelve- year-old pupil of a secondary school was among those wounded. 

On December, 12, Zaur Alibekov, resident of the village of Sultanyangiyurt, Kizilyurt district of Dagestan, who disappeared on December, 8, was found dead. Gulnara Alibekova, the victim's wife, said that multiple traces of tortures and gunshot wounds were found on his body. 

About 30 peaceful residents in Ingushetia and those of the neighbouring Chechnya who were gathering ramsons in Sunja district of Ingushetia became victims of armed confrontations. The tragedy took place in the neighbourhood of the villages of Arshti and Datikh on February, 11 and 12, during a special operation against gunmen. According to different sources, from four to fourteen people were killed during the special operation. 

It is difficult to present the exact number of lost peaceful residents in Northern Caucasus for the current year because some cases of people's deaths are questionable. In particular, according to the members of the top brass, those killed during special operations have been gunmen while their relatives state that they have been peaceful residents having nothing to do with illegal paramilitary groups. 

For instance, as a result of a special operation in Nalchik carried out on August, 27 and 28, according to official data, the personnel of law enforcement bodies killed five supposed gunmen, Aslan Lupezhev (whose name in a preliminary report was mentioned as Lampezhev) among them. However, Alan's relatives disagree with the officiail version and are sure that Aslan has become an accidental victim of the special operation.

A similar accident took place in Dagestan on June, 16, when the personnel of enforcement agencies tried to stop a car for document examination but members of the top brass reported that fire was opened at them from the cabin. Four men inside the car: Elbrus Abdullaev, Farid Misraev, Rustam Samurkhanov and Rasim Jabrailov were killed in return firing. Rustam Samurkhanov's sister said that some officials of Derbent Municipal Department of Interior Affairs had accused her brother of militiamen's murder but an investigator of local investigative committee declared that Rustam "had just turned out in the wrong place in the wrong time".

On October, 20, as a result of a special operation in Kizilyurt district of Dagestan two young men residents of Nozhaiyurt districit of Chechnya: a sixteen-year-old Yunus Yasaev and a twenty- year-old Ayub Dudaev were killed. According to their relatives, they had been studying at a medrese and on October, 8, they were kidnapped and taken away in a "WAZ" car. However, according to members of the top brass, Yasaev and Dudaev found by militiamen in the neighbourhood of the village of Bavtugai put up armed resistance and barricaded themselves in one of the private houses. They received a demand to lay down arms and surrender. After their refusal they were killed as a result of a storm.

One more tragedy like this happened on July, 13, when the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya reported that two active participants of illegal paramilitary groups were killed in a forest massif between the villages of Eshelkhatoy and Elistanzhi during a special operation after they put up armed resistance at the attempt of detention. One of the murdered men, a twenty-nine-year-old resident of Grozny Husein Eskiev, according to his relatives and human rights activists, had been considered missing since November, last year after he was kidnapped by unidentified enforcement bodies. Scars were found on Eskiev's body and three fingers were also lacking which according to his relatives indicated that he had been tortured. Another resident of the village of Shalazhi, Urus-Martan district, killed during a special operation was also kidnapped last year.