"Ossetian Jama'at" claims responsible for killing Vladikavkaz Mayor

An organization named "Ossetian Jama'at Kataib al Khoul" has proclaimed itself to execute the murder of Vitaly Karaev, Mayor of the city of Vladikavkaz. A respective statement appeared in one of Chechen separatists' websites.

The Jama'at's statement says that Vitaly Karaev was killed for his sanctioning the prosecution of women in Islamic clothes in public places and in public transport of the city after the explosion of a fixed-route taxi on November 6 in Vladikavkaz.

The statement also gives "the last warning" to the deputy of Russian State Duma from North Ossetia Arsen Fadzaev, who is blamed for his "active propaganda against Islam, while trying to image himself as a Moslems."

The Mayoralty of Vladikavkaz has treated the militants' statement that Karaev had prosecuted Muslim women as "horseshit and delirium." According to Evgeniy Kubantsev, deputy head of the city's administration, who is quoted by the NEWSru.com, in Vladikavkaz in general and the Mayoralty staff in particular never had any conflicts as to one's creed and clothes.

The investigators of Karaev's murder will consider a possible involvement of the "Ossetian Jama'at Kataib al Khoul" in the crime, the ITAR-TASS reports.

According to RIA "Novosti", the law enforcement bodies of North Ossetia are not taking the Jama'at's statement seriously. "It's not the first provocation; in North Ossetia no 'Jama'at' of extremist and reactionary type has ever existed," a source in law enforcement bodies told the Agency.