Buynaksk residents report on spread of leaflets with threats to militants' relatives

From mid-April in the Dagestani city of Buynaksk, unidentified persons have been distributing leaflets with threats addressed to militants' relatives, the locals report. The City Police say they know nothing about the leaflets.

A resident of Buynaksk, who asked not to name him, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that for the first time he saw the leaflets with names of militants and threats to their relatives on April 10.

"The leaflets say that a sort of Jamaat has been set up in the city to fight against those who fight against Islam. They explained that this applies to those who send flash to entrepreneurs, blow up shops and houses (the people of the republic use the term "send a flash: the memory stick is used by militants for putting forward their demands to pay money "for jihad" - note of the "Caucasian Knot"). Then, the leaflets gave a list of militants, whose relatives would be killed in the first place," said the man.

According to his story, the "execution lists" were distributed mainly in the places where Salafis gather - in mosques and prayer houses. Also, according to the source from Buynaksk, some of his fellow countrymen saw similar leaflets in other public places in the city.

"I'm a supporter of Salafism myself; however, I can't identify the people on the list; maybe because many of them are under nicknames. But the point is that in this manner they try to intimidate all the Salafi community of the city. Many people, including myself, believe that secret services are behind the lists. Let them better catch bandits, but avenging on relatives for what bandits do is unreasonable," said the man.

According to Zarema Bagautdinova, who is representing the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy) in Buynaksk, some of those on the lists "have already been avenged on." "The lists kept the relatives of the owners of the houses blown up in Buynaksk on May 6 houses," Ms Bagautdinova said in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, adding that she had no other information on the subject.

The GOVD (City Interior Department) of Buynaksk knows nothing about the "execution lists", said a police source.