On March 23-29, three men killed in armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week of March 23-29, 2020, three men were killed during the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; there was no information about the wounded ones. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

According to law enforcement bodies, all the three casualties had links with the armed underground.

Special and counterterrorist operations

On March 23, in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), after receiving information about prepared terror act, law enforcers found two ready-to-use improvised explosion devices (IEDs) and components for them in the house of one of the suspects. Near the village of Kremenchug-Konstantinovskoye in the Baksan District, in the territory of the agricultural cooperative, law enforcers tried to detain three suspects. They rendered armed resistance and were killed during the shootout. Nobody suffered from among law enforcers and civilians. The casualties were pre-identified as resident of Nalchik and two residents of the village of Dygulybgei of the Baksan District. According to law enforcers the two from Dygulybgei had been earlier convicted for illegal dealing with explosives and IEDs. A law enforcement source told the "Caucasian Knot" that the casualties' names are Timur Baksanov, Alim Pekov and a certain Kokov. Relatives and the advocate of Timur Baksanov have doubted the law enforcers' version about the shootout in the Baksan District.

On Friday, March 27, more than 50 law enforcers conducted another raid near the "Tangim" Mosque in Makhachkala. They stopped the parishioners' cars leaving the mosque and copied their personal data. There were no reports about any of them detained or taken to the police station.

Detentions

On March 27, it became known that a resident of the village of Kashkhatau of the Cherek District of the KBR was arrested. According to investigators, in January 2020, the 30-year-old man urged other young people to join the militants in Syria.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 30, 2020 at 11:31 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.