Kabardino-Balkaria: 173 victims of armed conflict in 2011

In 2011, at least 173 persons fell victim to the armed conflict in Kabardino-Balkaria; of whom 129 persons were killed and 44 others wounded. The death toll includes 80 persons declared to be militants, 31 law enforcers and 18 civilians. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot", based on the data from its own correspondents and information from open sources.

Explosions and terror acts

In 2011, Kabardino-Balkaria registered 21 explosions, including one suicide bombing, committed by a suspected members of the armed underground, when power agents tried to detain him. Apart from the suicide bomber himself, nobody was hurt by that explosion.

Let us remind you that in 2010 there were 41 explosions in Kabardino-Balkaria, including one suicide bombing, which also hurt nobody, except for the suicide bomber himself.

Losses among power agents and members of armed underground

As reported by law enforcement bodies, in 2011 at least 80 persons involved in the armed underground were liquidated in Kabardino-Balkaria; and at least 73 persons of this category were detained.

In 2010, Kabardino-Balkaria counted 24 killed members of illegal armed formations; and 7 more persons involved, in the opinion of law enforcement bodies, in the armed underground, were detained.

In 2011, among the members of power agencies of Kabardino-Balkaria, at least 31 persons were lost and other 32 were wounded in the course of shelling, explosions and armed clashes.

Let us remind you that in 2010 the republic had 23 lost and 35 wounded law enforcers.

Civilian casualties

The confrontation of power agents and militants is affecting the civilian population; and civilians also fall victim to the glowing armed conflict.

In 2011, there were at least 30 victims among civilians of Kabardino-Balkaria: 18 civilians were lost and 12 more wounded as a result of terror acts, explosions, shootings and attempts committed in the republic.

In 2010, this figure made 31 casualties and 47 wounded civilians, that is, in total – 78 victims among peaceful population.

In the context of the glowing conflict, kidnappings and disappearances still occur. In total, in 2011, Kabardino-Balkaria registered at least 4 such cases. In 2010, there were at least six such incidents.

Less wounded persons and more casualties

In 2010, the total number of victims of the armed conflict in Kabardino-Balkaria made 161 persons, namely, 79 casualties and 82 wounded persons. In 2011, the number of victims went up to 173, including 129 lost and 44 wounded persons. Thus, we see a nearly two-fold reduction in the number of wounded persons – from 82 to 44; however, the death toll went up by more than half – from 79 to 129 persons.

By the outcomes of 2010, Kabardino-Balkaria was the fifth highest by the number of victims of the armed conflict among the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD). However, already after the first half of 2011, the republic moved, according to statistics and analysis of the "Caucasian Knot", to the second place, with Dagestan keeping the lead. As of September 14, 2011, Kabardino-Balkaria was taking the third place among the NCFD regions after Dagestan and Chechnya, and preserved this ranking after 11 months of 2011.

One should understand that the above statistics cannot reflect with absolute accuracy the number of victims in each of the identified categories of the survey. Not all the data gets into news reports. It is not always possible to verify the reliability of statements made by law enforcement bodies. There are difficulties in identifying human remains – the lack of adequate laboratories is still an acute problem, which affects the timing and quality of examinations.