On April 16-22, 2018, 11 persons fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week of April 16-22, 2018, at least 11 persons fell victim to the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, ten were killed and one was wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

All the killed people were suspected members of the armed underground: nine in Dagestan and one in the Stavropol Territory.

Special and counterterrorist operations

On April 21, in the Stavropol Territory, a militant of the terrorist grouping "Islamic State" (IS) banned in Russia was killed during his detention. According to the FSB, the man was plotting a terror act with the use of firearms and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). During his detention, the man rendered resistance and was killed by return fire. At the place of the incident, law enforcers found weapons, ammunition, a packet with striking elements, a IS flag and handwritten text swearing allegiance to the leader of the terrorist organization, as well as the layouts of the buildings of the government and the Russian FSB Department for the Stavropol Territory.

At 1:30 p.m. Moscow time on April 21, a counterterrorist operation (CTO) legal regime was introduced in Derbent and the Derbent District of Dagestan. At about 1:30 p.m. Moscow time, in Suleiman-Stalsky Lane in Derbent, policemen stopped three persons to check their IDs. In response, the suspects opened fire on the policemen. The attackers were killed by return fire of the law enforcers. During an armed clash, no law enforcers and no civilians were injured. On the same day, at about 5:30 p.m. Moscow time, law enforcers blocked six people in a house in Sirenevaya Street in Derbent. When the law enforcers offered the blocked people to lay down their arms and surrender to the authorities, the suspects refused and they were neutralized in the course of the following armed clash. One of the law enforcers got a tangential wound to his shoulder. No civilians were injured.

At night on April 21, about 250-300 law enforcers with armoured vehicles cordoned off the Matseevka village in the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan. The entrance and exit from the village were blocked. Inside the village, the law enforcers visited houses and registered passport data of villages. The road was also closed for passage, and people spent hours in a traffic jam. No one was allowed to enter the village without producing a passport. According to local residents, the law enforcers demanded from all villagers to produce their passports and expressed indignation when the villagers had documents with them. Meanwhile, no one was detained. The law enforcers did not answer the villagers' questions and did not give any explanations concerning why the village had been cordoned off.

Detentions

On April 20, a 29-year-old resident of Chechnya was taken into custody. In August-September 2015 and in the period from November 2017 to April 2018, he was engaged in recruitment of a female resident of Nazran by persuading the woman to leave for Syria to take part in hostilities. A criminal case is instituted against him for persuading the woman to join a terrorist organization.