On August 20-26, ten persons fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

Five people perished and five others were wounded in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus during the week from August 20 to August 26, 2018. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

All the casualties are alleged members of the armed underground in Chechnya.

Attacks on law enforcers

On August 20, a series of attacks on employees of law enforcement bodies was committed in Chechnya. According to law enforcers, five residents of the Shali District took part in them; the oldest of whom was 18, and the youngest – 11 years old. Two of the five attackers were cousins, and two others were brothers, said the republic's law enforcement spokesman. The responsibility for the attacks was claimed by the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court.

At about 10:00 a.m., two men, armed with knives, attempted to break into the territory of the Shali ROVD (District Interior Division). According to law enforcers, Magomed Musaev, 18, the organizer of the grouping, took part in this attack. He stabbed a policeman and tried to break into the police station with an explosive device, but was killed. Then, the second attacker stabbed one of the policemen in the neck, seriously wounding him, and was also killed by ROVD employees.

In the village of Mesker-Yurt, Shali District, an attempt was made to blow up the DPS (road-and-post service) post. A 17-year-old man with a small backpack approached the post and blew himself up; policemen did not suffer. The post building received minor damage. The attacker was detained; later he died from received wounds.

That same morning, in the Lenin District of Grozny, a Mercedes car, while driving at high speed, knocked down three DPS policemen near the Grozny State Technical University, at the intersection of Isaev and Lorsanov Streets. The policemen received serious traumas and were hospitalized. The car was chased by policemen, who killed the driver and his 11-year-old brother, who was in the car. According to law enforcers, the driver was 18 years old; he was a relative of a man convicted for involvement in the armed underground.

Detentions

On August 22, law enforcers held mass detentions of relatives and acquaintances of the participants in the attacks on law enforcers in the Shali District. According to a relative of one of the casualties, the police detained all adult men, including fathers, uncles and cousins. Also, law enforcers detained teenagers and young guys, who lived in the same street with the attackers, studied together, or were just acquainted with them. The total number of detainees, according to local residents, was in dozens. Law enforcers toured houses and took the children away, interrogated them until night, and then, began releasing them, a local resident reported.

Relatives of the two cousins, who disappeared in central Grozny at night on August 12, when they were visiting their friend, reported that they found them on August 19 in one of the units of power structures. The relatives noted that they could not meet them and did not know the reasons for the detention. The young people, the older is 29, and the younger is 26 years old, wore beards. They had no problems with the law before, their relatives have noted.

On August 23, in Dagestan, employees of the Makhachkala transport department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and OMON (riot police) fighters detained a resident of the republic in the village of Sergokala. He is suspected of complicity in a subversive and terrorist grouping and in the illegal circulation of arms and drugs.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 27, 2018 at 01:25 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.