Dagestan's MIA identifies casualties in Karabudakhkent District

Mark Tolchinskiy, head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of Dagestan, has refuted the information that bodies of mercenaries-Arabs were found among the militants liquidated in the special operation conducted on March 21.

Let us remind you that last Saturday, on March 21, Adilgerey Magomedtagirov, Interior Minister of Dagestan, said that there were at least three mercenaries-Arabs among liquidated militants of Zakaryaev's grouping.

"The issue is now clarified. The point is that out of the 12 casualties, so far only the leader, the commander, has been approximately identified. And the Minister has supposed that at least three of them can be mercenaries. But to prove that, we need to hold plenty of procedures and examinations, and only then we'll be able to tell something in particular," Mr Tolchinskiy said.

"So far, we can judge by their appearance only. That is, not quite Caucasian type of face and so on. But these are assumption only," he has emphasized in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mark Tolchinskiy has addressed the editorial board of the "Caucasian Knot" and asked not to make hasty conclusions.

It was reported earlier that the special operation in Dagestan was launched after shelling on February 18 of the "Megafon" mobile operator base station in the Karabudakhkent District, which brought damage worth one million US dollars. The grouping under command of Magomedali Vagabov was suspected of committing the attack. The MIA asserts that local residents had themselves asked to catch the bandits.