Insurgency-Related Violence Reported In Dagestan and Ingushetia

Dagestan’s Interior Ministry reported today (November 11) that security forces yesterday (November 10) had detained a local resident with an improvised explosive device on the outskirts of the city of Buinaksk. A ministry source was quoted as saying that police unsuccessfully tried to stop a Volkswagen Golf and that after they gave chase, the driver, a 32-year-old Buinaksk resident, abandoned the car and tried to run away on foot. He was found with an IED consisting of a five-liter plastic can filled with three kilograms of nails and two liters of a solvent, to which 400 grams of TNT, 40 grams of a plastic explosive, a detonator and a car alarm were attached. Specialists said the bomb would have exploded with the force of 500 grams of TNT. According to “operational information,” the man, who was detained, had allegedly planned to detonate the bomb in a crowded area yesterday, November 10, which marked the annual national holiday in honor of Russia’s police (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 11).

Also yesterday (November 10), Dagestani police seized a Kalashnikov automatic rifle with a 30-round magazine for 7.62 mm ammunition, a grenade and “religious literature” from a 33-year-old resident of the village in Chontaul in the republic’s Kizilyurt district. Separately, police in the village of Gimry in Dagestan’s Untsukulsky district discovered a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and four magazines filled with 120 5.45 mm rounds in a car belonging to a 27-year-old local resident. Both men were detained (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 10).

Dagestan’s Interior Ministry announced on November 9 that police had seized a Makarov pistol with two cartridges from a 26-year-old resident of the republic’s capital, Makhachkala. The ministry said police had also seized two grenades and 38 Kalashnikov rifle rounds from a 27-year-old resident of the city of Derbent, and a grenade and 20 Kalashnikov rounds from a 25-year-oldDerbent resident.

On November 8, police in Khasavyurt detained a native of Dagestan’s Novolaksky district for allegedly financing “illegal armed formations,” as officials call rebel groups. The 22-year-old resident of the village of Novochurtakh had, back in June, allegedly given 50,000 rubles (around $1,620) to a rebel who was on the federal wanted list (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 9).

On November 7, one person was killed in a shootout with police in Makhachkala. The incident took place when police tried to stop a car and the driver opened fire on them, after which he was killed by return fire. The Dagestani Interior Ministry identified the slain man as Timur Akhmedov, a 23-year-old Makhachkala resident, and reported that he was found with a Makarov pistol. The RIA Dagestan news agency reported that, according to “operational information,” Akhmedov was a member of the Makhchkala group of militants, and that authorities were trying to determine whether he had been involved in previous attacks on police (RIA Novosti, RIA Dagestan, November 8).

Also on November 7, a suspected rebel bunker was discovered two kilometers from the village of Krasnyi Voskhod on the banks of the Talovki River in Dagestan’s Kizlyar district. The Dagestani Interior Ministry reported that security forces destroyed the bunker, which had been used by the Kizlyarskaya group of militants (www.kakvaz-uzel.ru, November 7).

On November 6, a car parked in front of an electronics store in Makhachkala blew up, breaking windows in nearby apartment buildings and starting a fire. No one was hurt in the blast, which the police said may have been the result of a bomb planted by rebels (Interfax, November 6).

On November 5, security forces carrying out a counter-terrorist operation in the village of Andi in Dagestan’s Botlikh district came under fire twice. The first incident occurred when a man whom security forces had blockaded in a home in the village opened fire when he was ordered to surrender. He was subsequently captured with an AKM automatic rifle with a filed-off serial number. Later, another man opened fire on police in the same village. He was also captured, and found in possession of a gas pistol that had been modified to fire lethal rounds (www.regnum.ru, November 6).

On November 4, security forces discovered an alleged rebel arms cache near the village of Shamkhal on the outskirts of Makhachkala that contained weapons, ammunition, bomb components and one bomb ready to detonate. An unnamed official in Dagestan’s branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) was quoted as saying that among the items found in the arms cache were an AK-74 with its serial number filed off, a magazine with 25 5.45 mm rounds, a grenade, nine rounds for a grenade launcher, 250 rounds of ammunition, a camouflage uniform and medicine, as well as bomb components and one improvised explosive device ready for use. The IED, which had explosives equivalent to seven kilograms of TNT, was destroyed by bomb disposal specialists (ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, November 5).

Also on November 4, weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized from three residents of two villages in Dagestan’s Tlyaratinsky district. A 7.62 mm rifle and 141 7.62 mm rounds, a hunting rifle, a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, a Kalashnikov machinegun, magazines and explosives were seized from a 49-year-old resident of the village of Tlyarata, who was detained. A rifle and ammunition were seized from a 26-year-old resident of the same village. In addition, 12 7.62 mm rounds and a magazine for a sniper rifle were seized from a 25-year-old resident of the village of Kamilukh (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 4).

In Ingushetia yesterday (November 10), police discovered an arms cache in the republic’s Dzheirakhsky district. The cache contained a Kalashnikov assault rifle with three magazines, an RKG-3 anti-tank grenade and ammunition (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 10).

On November 7, unidentified gunmen driving a VAZ-21112 in the city of Nazran fired on an Audi driven by Mikhail Lyanov, a 35-year-old aide to Ingushetia’s chief prosecutor. Lyanov was wounded in the left forearm and hospitalized, and the shooters managed to escape (www.regions.ru, RIA Novosti, November 8).

On November 9, an arms cache was discovered in Stavropol Krai. Among the items found in the cache were several RGD grenades, an M1 grenade, electronic detonators, 9 mm ammunition, sticks of dynamite and components of electronic detonators (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 10).

Law-enforcement sources in Karachaevo-Cherkessia were quoted on November 8 as saying that a resident of the village of Uchkeken had been injured several days earlier while he was looking through a knapsack he had found in the mountains of the republic’s Malokarachaevsky district and an improvised explosive device inside it detonated. The sources said the IED may have belonged to rebels suspected of attacks on police in Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Stavropol (Interfax, November 8).