On December 30-January 5, 2014, 26 persons fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week of December 30-January 5, 2014, at least 26 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 16 persons were killed, and 10 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 one law enforcer in Dagestan and ten suspected members of the armed underground, including five in Dagestan, four in Kabardino-Balkaria, and one in the Stavropol Territory.

Attacks on law enforcers

On December 30, on the road of Karlanyurt-Mogilevskoe in the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan, unidentified persons shelled a police patrol. Two attackers were killed by return fire. No policeman was injured.

On December 30, at about 3:50 a.m. Moscow time, in a wooded area on a country road three kilometres from the village of Kayasula in the Neftekumsk District of the Stavropol Territory, two armed men opened fire in response to the demand to lay down their weapons voiced by a soldier of the federal forces. A suspected militant was killed in the fire-fight. Earlier, a 25-year-old resident of Abram-Tyube supposedly opened fire on law enforcers, and he also threw to policemen an unidentified explosive device. As a result, two policemen were contused by blast wave. Relatives of the suspected militant have c reported that on December 27, 2013, Ibragim Nurov, a 25-year-old resident of the village of Abram-Tyube of the Neftekumsk District of the Stavropol Territory, who was killed near the village of Kayasula, was kidnapped by unidentified persons from the mosque of Neftekumsk.

On December 30, at 3:30 p.m. Moscow time, a policeman of the separate battalion of the road-and-patrol service (known as DPS) was attacked by two unidentified persons in the village of Olimpiysky of the Khasavyurt District of Dagestan. The policeman was able to open return fire and kill one of the attackers. The law enforcer was brought to hospital, and, later, he died there. The second attacker left the place in his car.

On December 30, at about 7:30 p.m., in Chechenskaya Street in the city of Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria, law enforcers stopped a young man to check his ID in the framework of operational and search activities. In response, the young man pulled out a pistol and started shooting on the policemen. He was killed by return fire.

On December 30, at 7:30 p.m., in Bratyev Kushkhovykh Street in the village of Dugulubgei of Kabardino-Balkaria, unidentified persons shelled two local residents from submachine guns and left the place in a car. One of the men died in the place, and the other one was brought to hospital, where he was rendered medical care.

Special operations and CTO

On December 30, starting from 8:30 a.m. Moscow time, a regime of counterterrorist operation (CTO) was introduced in the town of Chegem of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the territory bounded by Kyarovykh, Shakovykh, Lagernaya and Yunnatov Streets. Militants were blocked in one of the houses. After law enforcers voiced an offer to surrender, a young woman with a minor girl left the blocked house. According to the preliminary information, she provided assistance to the suspected militants. Then, the fire-fight started, during which three suspected militants were killed, and two law enforcers were wounded. A fire occurred in the house, and it was extinguished by fire safety officers. By 12:00 a.m. Moscow time, the special operation has ended, and the CTO regime was cancelled. The killed men were identified as 25-year-old Islam Irugov, 21-year-old Anzor Pshunokov, both residents of Chegem, and Islam Zhanov, a 22-year-old resident of Baksan.

At night of January 2, a suspected militant was blocked in Khasavyurt, and his wife and child were with him. During the negotiations, he refused to surrender and did not allow his wife with a minor child to leave the apartment. Then, he opened fire on law enforcers. Later, he let the child leave the cordoned apartment; however, the woman refused to leave the suspected militant. As a result of the fire-fight, two persons were killed. One of the deceased was identified as Marat Shikhshaidov, and Aisha Idigova, who was killed together with him, was his common-law wife.

Bombings and terror acts

On December 30, at about 8:40 p.m., in Khasavyurt, in front of the house No. 4 in Selskokhozyaistvennaya Street, an explosive device detonated when a vehicle with staff members of the post-and-patrol service (known as PPS) drove by. As a result of the explosion, two civilians died from the injuries, and four policemen were hospitalized with various injuries. Experts estimated the power of the explosive device as of five kilograms of TNT equivalent.

On December 31, in Zulpukarov Street, an explosion occurred under a car belonging to Rasul Gasanov, Assistant to the Buynaksk City Prosecutor in Dagestan. Rasul Gasanov died in the place from the wounds.

On December 31, an unidentified explosive device detonated at the intersection of Zavodskaya and Kandaurovskaya Streets in the city of Khasavyurt. A policeman was contused by blast wave.

On January 4, at about 11:30 p.m., an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near the "Akbar" store, located in Makhachkala Shosse Street in Khasavyurt. As a result of the explosion, windows in the store were shattered, and a fire occurred. According to local residents and advocate Sapiyat Magomedova, store owners received threats from militants and a USB flash drive with the demand to pay a certain amount for jihad.

Attacks on civilians

On January 3, at about 12:30 a.m., in the wooded area near the village of Altud of the Prokhladnensky District of Kabardino-Balkaria, hunters found a VAZ-2114 car with a charred body of an unidentified man in the boot. The killed man was identified: he was a 38-year-old resident of the village of Primalkinskoe of the Prokhladnensky District of Kabardino-Balkaria. On December 26, he left home and never returned. The car, in which the man was found dead, belongs to his father. According to a preliminary investigating version, the murder is connected with the activities of an illegal armed formation (IAF) that operates in the territory of the country.

Detentions

On January 1, in Khasavyurt, law enforcers detained a resident of the Cossack village of Grebenskaya of the Shelkovsky District of Chechnya. The law enforcers found a pistol among the detainee's belongings. The pistol was equipped with a silencer, and there were two rounds inside the magazine.

In the Stavropol Territory, suspects in the criminal case of a car bombing in Pyatigorsk were arrested. Investigators do not disclose any information on the number of detainees and their personalities.