On December 19-25, seven persons perished during armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

In the course of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, during the week from December 19 to December 25, 2016, seven persons lost their lives; there is no information about any wounded ones. 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 five alleged members of the armed underground and two power agents, all of them in Dagestan.

Attacks on power agents

On December 20, in the federal section of the highway in the vicinity of the settlement of Manas, Karabudakhkent District of Dagestan, policemen stopped a VAZ-2109 car to check documents, but a fire was opened from inside the car. Both attackers were shot dead by return fire. The car caught fire and burned down; as a result the driver's was badly burned; and a DNA examination was appointed to identify it. The second attacker ran out of the car and was shot dead outside it; he was pre-identified as Kerim Khaibulaev, a 28-year-old resident of Makhachkala.

On December 23, in Kirov Street in Khasavyurt, a policeman asked a passer-by to stop and present documents, but the latter opened fire. A shootout broke out, and the man was shot dead. A grenade and a traumatic pistol, adapted for using live ammunition, were found at the venue.

On December 24, in the outskirt of the village of Teletl, Shamil District of Dagestan, an armed skirmish broke out of power agents with suspected militants. Law enforcers found armed men in the outskirt of the village and offered them to surrender, but they opened fire. Two suspected militants were killed and pre-identified as local residents Ibragim Amirov, born in 1989, and Gamzatapandi Magomedov, born in 1982. Amirov is believed to be the leader of the "Shamil" grouping; and Magomedov was his subordinate. Two submachine guns, a pistol, a grenade, ammunition and a home-made bomb were found in the shootout site.

At night on December 25, in the highway Makhachkala-Kaspiysk, policemen tried to check documents of people, who travelled in a car. In response, fire was opened on them from inside. Two policemen were wounded and later died. The casualties were the employees of the regiment of the police patrol-and-post service (PPS) Veli Kurbanov and Izafedin Sardarov. The attackers managed to escape.

At night on December 25, unidentified persons shelled a checkpoint in the Dagestani Kizilyurt. Law enforcers did not suffer. A search for the attackers is underway.

Detentions

Relatives of the suspected militants, killed in Grozny on December 17-18, have reported new detentions of members of their families undertaken on December 20-22. Local observers state dozens of illegally detained persons, including elderly ones and young people under 18. There is no exact data on the number of detainees. According to relatives of those killed, detentions of their relatives continue; they do not face any charges. Policemen allow delivering food to detainees; there is no information about the use of torture to them.