On December 21-27, 9 persons were killed in armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week from December 21 to December 27, 2015, the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus claimed nine human lives. These are the results of calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

All the casualties are alleged members of the armed underground: three in Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia each.

Attacks on law enforcers

On December 23, in Makhachkala Highway of Khasavyurt policemen tried to stop a car, but the driver opened fire on them. He was shot dead by return fire and later identified as Magomed Zakaryaev, born in 1992, a native of the Tsumadin District. There is information that he was an accomplice of the members of the "Kizilyurt" grouping of the armed underground.

On December 24, in the Reductorny settlement in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, power agents tried to stop a Gazel car; the driver opened fire and was killed by return fire. He was identified as Djambulat Aliev, born in 1972. According to preliminary data, he was an accomplice of militants and was engaged in recruitment.

On December 24, in the Chegem District of Kabardino-Balkaria, on the road near the village of Lechinkay, employees of federal forces tried to stop a VAZ-21099 to check documents, but fire was opened on them from inside the car. There were three men in the car; they were killed during a shootout. One of them was Nazir Tokhov, born in 1989, who, according to power agents, underwent training in militants' camps in Syria and took part in the warfare there. The other casualties were the 42-year-old Aslan Zagashtokov, a resident of Baksan, and the 26-year-old Inal Thazaplizhev, a resident of Lechinkay.

On December 24, power agents were screening the territory near the village of Ratlub in the Shamil District of Dagestan, when they were shelled from an empty building. One militant was killed by return fire. He was pre-identified as Gadji Kelbeliev, born in 1983, a native of Dagestan. Since March 2014, he was a member of the "Izberbash" grouping, and then, after it was liquidated, he joined the "Yuzhdag" grouping.

Special and counterterrorist operations

On December 24, a number of settlements of the Adyge-Khabl and Prikubansky Districts and the northern part of Cherkessk were put under the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime. Three militants were killed in an abandoned summer cottage settlement. Nearby a car that belonged to militants was found, in which an improvised bomb exploded, and in which firearms, grenades and a large amount of ammunition were found. In Cherkessk, five suspected members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) were detained; one more was stopped by power agents at his attempt to escape in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Detentions

On December 23, employees of the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and FSB agents made a search of the house of a 25-year-old resident of the village of Djavgat, Kaytag District of Dagestan, during which they found two homemade grenades, a butt to the Kalashnikov submachine gun and more than 150 rounds of submachine ammunition. During a search of a nearby house, law enforcers found another grenade and ammunition. Owners of both houses were detained.

On December 24, in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, employees of the Department of the Russian MIA for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) confiscated, during a search of a house, an AK-47 submachine gun, six magazines to it and about 40 rounds. The owner of the house was detained.