On February 23-March 1, at least 23 people fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week from February 23 to March 1, 2015, at least 23 people fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 17 people were killed and six others wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The death toll includes 14 suspected member of the armed underground, including 11 in Dagestan and 3 in Chechnya, and 3 law enforcers, including two in Dagestan and one in Chechnya.

Attacks on law enforcers

On February 24, at the police checkpoint located near the village of Sulevkent of the Khasavyurt District, policemen carried out search operations and stopped a Hyundai car. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), three unidentified persons opened fire on the policemen from the car. As a result of the shelling, one policeman was killed, and his colleague was hospitalized.

Two suspected attackers were killed by return fire, and the third attacker managed to leave the car and escape. The men killed in the shootout have been preliminary identified as Rasul Saidov and Zagalav Magomaliev. According to the law enforcement agencies, both of them were in hiding since 2014.

Special operations and CTOs

At 7:30 a.m. Moscow time of February 25, a counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime was introduced in the villages of Nechaevka, Sultan-Yangiyurt, Chontaul, and Kirovaul of the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan. In the wooden area, power agents discovered a dugout between the villages of Nechaevka and Sultan-Yangiyurt, where militants were hiding. The power agents cordoned off the dugout and offered the people inside it to surrender. However, according to the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC), they refused to lay down their arms and opened fire. Then, the power agents started to storm the dugout. As a result of the special operation carried out on February 25, four suspected militants were killed, and five others tried to break out of the cordon at nightfall.

In total, in the course of the special operation, nine suspected members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) were killed; one fighter of Interior Troops perished, and one more fighter was wounded and hospitalized. According to the NAC, all the killed militants were members of the so-called Kizilyurt criminal grouping. One of its leaders has been preliminary identified as Oleg Shalyapin, a native of Makhachkala, born in 1979, put on the federal wanted list.

Bombings and terror acts

On February 28, near the village of Shalazhi in the Urus-Martan District of Chechnya, five fighters of Interior Troops of the Russian MIA were wounded as a result of the explosion of an unidentified explosive device. After delivery to the military hospital, Nikolai Mordvin, the deputy Commander of one of the units for special training, died from his injuries. The health state of the other victims is characterized as satisfactory.

At night of February 24, in the village of Chernorechye of the Zavodskoi District of Grozny, an explosion occurred at the dam near the Chernorechye water reservoir. As a result, three men were killed. The victims presumably tried to plant a land mine, which exploded in their hands. A MIA staff member has reported that persons killed in the explosion have been already identified; however, he refused to voice their names. According to residents of the village of Chernorechye, after the incident at the dam, law enforcers began to carry out inspections and visit apartments. This information was released on March 1.

Detentions

In Grozny, Chechen law enforcers continue raids to detain young men, who wear beards, but shave off their moustaches, eyewitnesses report. So, a young man detained on February 23 stated being told by law enforcers that they had instructions from their superiors to detain anyone who even just "copy Wahhabis' appearance." On February 24, according to local residents, two more persons were detained, and both of them were released several hours later. One of them stated that policemen checked their mobile phones and asked them about their attitude towards Wahhabis, militants, and participants of hostilities in Syria.

Kidnappings

On February 16, Adalo Iskhakov, a 25-year resident of the village of Balakhani of the Untsukul District, was kidnapped by unidentified men in masks in Makhachkala, where he arrived to receive medical treatment. The incident was recorded by surveillance cameras. This information was released on February 25.