Experts claim militants had no reason to set fire to Dagestani school

There is no sense for militants to destroy social objects in Dagestan, since by doing so, they lose support of the population, said the experts, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" in their comments on the arson of the school in the village of Teletl.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that employees of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) extinguished the fire that broke out at night on June 22 in the Teletl village secondary school in the Shamil District. Law enforcers claimed that the school had been set on fire by militants.

In the opinion of Orkhan Jemal, a journalist of the Forbes, the school arson "could be committed by militants, as well as power agents – for provocation." He did not rule out that later, "people who have nothing to do with the incident will be brought to justice for the destruction of the school".

Ruslan Martagov, a political analyst, and a former consultant of the "Anti-Terror" Fund (in 2005-2008), believes that "there are traces of the corruption component" in the incident.

"The most obvious version is the destruction of the school with the aim to replace its headmaster," said Martagov, noting that "the post of headmaster is rather profitable place of work."

The expert finds the official version of law enforcers claiming militants' involvement in the fire groundless. "Militants have no reason to do it, just to irritate the population," Ruslan Martagov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.