On December 16-22, 2013, 25 persons fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week of December 16-December 22, 2013, at least 25 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 11 persons were killed, and 14 persons were wounded. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The death toll includes six law enforcers - five in Dagestan and one in Chechnya, one civilian in Dagestan, and four suspected members of the illegal armed formations (IAFs), including one in Dagestan, and three in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Attacks on law enforcers

On December 16, in the Chegem District of Kabardino-Balkaria, policemen tried to stop for inspection a Niva car, which was travelling in the direction of the village of Lechinkai. Passengers of the car threw a grenade at the policemen. One policeman got a concussion. The policemen opened return fire at the car. As a result, an explosive device has detonated or a gas cylinder has exploded in the car. In the burned-out car, the policemen found a body of one man and weapons and ammunition.

On December 16, during operational and search activities in the vicinities of the Dagestani village of Shaitli of the Tsuntin District of Dagestan, law enforcers met a group of suspected militants. During the armed clash, three policemen and a border guard were killed. One more border guard was hospitalized in serious condition.

On December 17, at the intersection of Akushinsky and Gadjiev Streets in Makhachkala, an armed attack on a police patrol was committed. As a result, one policeman was killed, and five other policemen and two passers-by were wounded. The attackers fled the place. During the pursuit, one of the suspected militants, who shelled the police squad, was killed. He was preliminary identified as Kurban Omarov, a member of the "Makhachkala" grouping. One more suspect (according to the preliminary information, it was Rustam Suleimanov, who is also a member of the "Makhachkala" grouping) was wounded.

On December 17, in Grozny Street in Khasavyurt, unidentified persons shelled a police patrol. During the shelling, a policeman was injured by the car plating damaged by a bullet. The attackers fled in unknown direction.

On December 19, in Datuev Street in Khasavyurt, unidentified persons shelled a district police inspector. The policeman got wounds to his abdomen and legs and was brought to hospital.

Special operations and CTOs

In the morning of December 16, a special operation in the village of Bylym of the Elbrus District of Kabardino-Balkaria was resumed. During the armed clash, two suspected militants were killed, and the total number of killed suspected members of IAFs reached four men. According to law enforcers, the number of killed suspected militants includes Arsen Khandokhov, the leader of the local underground, his associate Zalim Liev, and Takhir Atakuev, an owner of the blocked house.

Bombings and terror acts

On December 17, on the outskirts of the town of Tyrnyauz in Kabardino-Balkaria, 28-year-old Ali Eneev, who was put on the federal wanted list, was found in the dugout and detained. At his place, law enforcers found a Kalashnikov submachine gun, an improvised explosive device (IED), and ammunition. The detainee told the law enforcers about the address in the village of Bylym, where other suspected militants could be hiding. When he was brought to the specified location, he took a backpack located there and activated a homemade bomb inside it. The suspected militant was killed on the spot, and two policemen got mine-explosion injuries.

On December 20, in the vicinities of the village of Yandi in Achkhoi-Martan District of Chechnya, an unidentified explosive device blew up during operational and search activities performed by military men. A contract soldier from the military unit of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) was injured and died on the way to the hospital.

Attacks on civilians

On December 14, at 8:00 p.m., in the village of Nuradilovo of the Khasavyurt District, two unidentified persons entered a house of a local resident, born in 1966, shelled him from firearms and fled. The victim died in the central city hospital of Khasavyurt. Investigators consider a militant attack as a basic version. According to a source from the investigating department, several days prior to his murder, a pensioner occasionally came to a camp of the militants in the forest. The investigators believe that the man could be killed by the militants, who feared that he would told the law enforcers about the place where they were hiding.

Detentions

On December 17, at the house located in Alikhberdov Street of the village of Islamei of the Baksan District of Kabardino-Balkaria, law enforcers found an IED based on a TNT block and stuffed with nuts, two grenades, and a filled magazine to a Kalashnikov submachine gun. An owner of the house was detained and brought to the Intermunicipal Division "Baksan" of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

On December 20, officials from the MIA of the Kabardino-Balkarin Republic (KBR) reported that during a joint operation, staff members of the Centre to Combat Extremism (CCE) and agents of the Regional FSB Department detained a resident of the Terek, suspected of active aiding and abetting the leaders of the local armed underground. During his inspection, a grenade, two grenade fuses, 95 cartridges and 222.2 grams of marijuana were found. According to the MIA, the detainee supplied the leaders and members of the local armed formations with medicines, food product, and "objects and items used to conduct subversive and terrorist activities."

On December 20, at about 3:00 p.m., law enforcers detained Magomed Dabaev, a resident of the village of Novy Agachaul of the Karabudakhkent District of Dagestan. According to a source form the Dagestani MIA, Magomed Dabaev is suspected of aiding and abetting members of IAFs. The detainee's relatives have reported that, as of the afternoon of December 21, they were not aware of the whereabouts of Magomed Dabaev.