Caucasus Security Brief

North Caucasus Security Brief – June 24, 2010, to July 1, 2010

Suicide bomber strikes downtown Grozny, Chechnya; Chechen President Kadyrov claims more “Wahhabis” in Ukraine than Chechnya; Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov attributes violence spike to capture of Magas; Russian government and media pleased over US designation of Doku Umarov as a terrorist; Ingush security forces kill two militants near Nazran; police storm house, kill two militants in Dagestan; militant leader killed in special operation in Dagestan; imam’s house targeted in drive-by shooting in Ingushetia; car bomb kills policeman in Ingushetia; gunmen ambush policemen in Nazran; son of interior ministry officer killed in explosion in Dagestan; gunmen ambush police car in Dagestan; bomb derails freight train in Dagestan; gunmen shoot policeman dead in Dagestan; two policemen killed at checkpoint shootout in Dagestan; Georgia says Russian sniper shot one of its policemen; Primorsky Kray investigators link youth gang to Chechen radicalism.

Statements from Russian and North Caucasus Leadership

• Republican President, Ramzan Kadyrov, claimed that more “Wahhabis” reside in Ukraine than in Chechnya, many of whom allegedly travel into the North Caucasus to cause violence. Kadyrov accused Ukrainian authorities of turning a blind eye to the threat, and stated he will step down from the presidential post once the Wahhabi threat is eliminated.[1]

• Republican President, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, attributed the recent spike in violence in Ingushetia to militant desperation over the June 9 capture of a senior militant leader, Magas, at a press conference on June 30.[2]

• The Russian government and media greeted the US decision to place Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus (IEC) leader, Doku Umarov, on its international terrorist list with great satisfaction on June 24.[3]

Russian Anti-Terror Activities

• Ingush security forces killed two unidentified militants in Plievo, Nazranovsk district, after barricading them in a private residence on June 29, according to law enforcement agencies.[4]  Another report states, “police officers attempted to stop an automobile containing two men suspected of a number of crimes, but the men offered armed resistance.  In a shootout, both passengers were killed.”[5]

• Security forces stormed a house in Derbent, Dagestan, in which three militants were held up, killing two on June 28, according to a spokesman for the Federal Security Service (FSB).[6]

• Dagestani deputy interior minister, Magomed Ismailov, told media that police managed to kill militant leader Djamalutdin Djavatov in a special operation in the Karabudakhkent district of Dagestan on June 26.  A Special Purpose Police (OMON) officer was killed and two others were injured in that operation.  Authorities implicated Djavatov in the June 24 shooting of two police officers in Karamakhi.[7]

Incidents of Violence in Ingushetia

• An imam’s house reportedly was the target of a drive-by shooting in the Nasyr-Kortsk neighborhood of Nazran, Ingushetia, in the early hours of June 30.  No one was injured, according to an interior ministry spokesman.[8]

• According to a police spokesman, a car bomb killed one police officer, detonating as he entered his vehicle, in Malgobek, Ingushetia, on June 26.[9]

• Unidentified gunmen ambushed a police car, killing two officers and severely injuring a third in Nazran, Ingushetia, on June 25, a local spokesman told media.[10]

Incidents of Violence in Dagestan

• An explosive device destroyed a car, killing its driver, in Mitagi-Kazmalyar, Derbentsk district, Dagestan, in the early hours of June 30, according to law enforcement agencies.  Terrorists likely targeted the driver, as he was the 20-year-old son of a Russian Interior Ministry officer.[11]

• According to a local police spokesman, unidentified gunmen attacked a police car, injuring one officer, in Mogilevka, Khasavyurtsk district, Dagestan, on June 29.[12]

• A bomb planted along the Manas – Achisu rail corridor in Dagestan exploded beneath a fright train, derailing two cars carrying water in the early hours of June 29.  No one was reportedly injured.[13]

• Unknown gunmen killed a police officer in the Kazbek district of Dagestan on June 25, according to local authorities.[14]

• Militants opened fire on police who stopped their car at a checkpoint in Karamakhi, Dagestan, killing two officers on June 24, according to a local police official.[15]

Incidents of Violence in Other Regions

• A suicide bomber identified as Adam Khamidov blew himself up in front of the theater in downtown Grozny, Chechnya, on June 30.  The attack wounded eight named people, including six belonging to various security structures.[16]  Earlier reports contradict these figures, claiming at least one death and ten wounded.[17]

• The Karachaevo-Cherkess interior ministry claims security forces captured a supporter of deceased insurgent leader, Shamil Basaev, who participated in the 1999 raid into Dagestan.  Mr. Khubiev was arrested in Erkin-Yurt, Nogaysk district, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, on June 28.[18]

• Unknown gunmen shot two police officers, killing one and wounding the other in Nartan, Chegemsky district, Kabardino-Balkaria, on June 25, according to local investigators.[19]

Events beyond North Caucasus

• Georgian authorities claim a Russian sniper shot and wounded a Georgian police officer along the Georgian-Abkhaz border on July 1.[20]

• Investigators in the Far East region of Primorsky Kray believe a youth gang that went on a rampage against police in late May to early June was under Wahhabi influence, citing numerous articles of Chechen Islamist propaganda discovered in the youths’ possession.[21]