Experts link special operations in Nalchik to militants' efficiency

Within the last two weeks, Nalchik saw two special operations that resulted in deaths of 12 people, regarded as militants by law enforcers. Political analysts predict more special operations and draw attention to the transfer of armed clashes into the territory of cities.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at night on August 3 the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime was introduced in Nalchik. A group of armed persons was blocked in a nine-storey block of flats in the micro-district "Aleksandrovka". They refused to surrender and were killed. According to the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC), six persons were shot dead. At night on July 23, Nalchik also witnesses a special operation with introduction of the CTO regime. Six persons were killed then, who also were blocked in a nine-storey building.

In recent years, in the Caucasus, terrorist activity has decreased, but it proved impossible to eradicate extremism completely, said Yana Amelina, the secretary-coordinator of the Caucasian Geopolitical Club.

"It's too early to state that the radical Islamist underground is completely suppressed. This is not the case. Terror acts will continue; and this operation is not the last one. It's not easy to crack down radical Islamists once and for all," Ms Amelina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"It's no secret that the KBR has effective underground. Its activation is a result of many factors, including the actions of power agents, who had long traced the grouping," Akhmet Yarlykapov, a senior fellow at the Centre for Ethno-Political Studies of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PAS), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Note that the activity is observed not in the forests, but in the cities."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.