Caucasus Security Brief May 22, 2010 - May 28, 2010

At least 7 bombings between May 20 and May 28 in the North Caucasus; Stavropol bombing suspects detained in Ingushetia; bomb kills 7, wounds 40 in Stavropol; Russian prosecutor says police are incapable of halting violence in N. Caucasus; Moscow’s envoy to the Caucasus Khloponin reiterates corruption crackdown goal; suspects identified in deputy prosecutor murder in Kabardo-Balkaria; Chechen security forces kill 2 militants in Goity; Chechen security forces kill 2 militants in Shali; March 31 Kizlyar bombing suspect detained; gunmen attack pipeline in Dagestan; bomb explodes in Nalchik; explosive device discovered at Baksan police station; bomb targets police car in Tyrnyauz, Kabardo-Balkaria; explosive device found at Tyrnyauz memorial; blast wounds two Ministry of Interior Affairs (MVD) troops in Shali; two bombs explode in coordination in Dagestan; gunmen shoot, injure two investigators in Nazran; three off-duty guards killed in Kabardo-Balkaria; gas pipeline explosion near Kizlyar; deputy prosecutor murdered in Baksan; controversial North Ossetian mufti resigns.

Stavropol Bombing

• Authorities detained two suspects involved in the Stavropol bombing and returned them to Stavropol for questioning on May 27, according to a source in Ingushetia’s security services.  The Ingush branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) did not confirm this report.[i]

• According to local authorities, a shrapnel-packed, remotely triggered bomb disguised as a juice carton exploded at a Stavropol café just beside the city’s Palace of Culture and Sport moments before a Chechen folk-dance concert on May 26.  The explosion killed at least seven civilians and wounded over forty gathered in a crowd. No group has claimed responsibility.[ii]

Candid Observation from Senior Russian Official

• A senior Russian federal prosecutor, Alexander Bastrykin, declared that police in the North Caucasus are incapable of tackling the recent wave of violence across the North Caucasus on May 28.[iii]

Statement from the Presidential envoy to the North Caucasus

• Presidential envoy to the North Caucasus, Aleksandr Khloponin, reiterated his goal to crackdown on corruption and nepotism, part of his effort to improve socioeconomic conditions and reduce violence in the region, on May 27.[iv]

Other Russian Anti-Militant Activities

• The Chief of the Investigation Committee for the Prosecutor General’s Office told reporters that his office has identified the suspects responsible for May 20 murder of deputy prosecutor of Baksan district, Ruslan Maskhov, on May 28.[v]

• Chechen President, Ramzam Kadyrov, announced to the media that security forces killed two militants during a sweep near Goity, Urus-Martan district, on May 26.  The militants were identified as Magomed Makaev, 26, and Salambek Sakhabov, 18.[vi]

• Chechen security forces killed two militant brothers, Yusupkhadzhiyev of Shali, in Serzhen-Yurt on May 23, according to a spokesman for the Chechen president.

• According to the Dagestani interior ministry press service, security forces stopped an automobile in Zhdanovka, Kizlyarsk district, and apprehended Pakhrutdin Akhmedov, who was wanted for his involvement in the March 31 Kizlyar bombings, on May 22.[vii]

Militant Operations and other Incidents of Violence

• Unidentified gunmen shot a gas pipeline in Khasavryut, Dagestan, causing it to rupture and leaving fifteen thousand residents without gas, just past midnight on May 26.[viii]

• A spokesman for local law enforcement agencies in Kabardo-Balkaria told reporters a bomb exploded in central Nalchik as a police patrol passed on May 25. No injuries resulted.[ix]

• According to a local police spokesman, officers discovered a homemade bomb planted at the entrance of the police station in Baksan, Kabardo-Balkaria, on May 25.[x]

• A senior investigation committee aide told reporters that a bomb targeting a police car leaving Tyrnyauz, Elbrussky district, Kabardo-Balkaria, wounded two officers on May 25.  Once investigators arrived at the scene, two further explosions slightly injured a demolition expert.[xi]

• Republican interior ministry officials in Kabardo-Balkaria announced that authorities discovered an explosive device at the Eternal Flame Memorial in Tyrnyauz, which a demolition squad was in the process of disarming, on May 24.[xii]

• According to Chechen law enforcement agencies, a bomb blast wounded two Russian Interior Ministry troops three kilometers outside Shali, Chechnya, on May 24.[xiii]

• A spokesman for a North Caucasus army task group stated that two coordinated explosions occurred in the Dagestani republican capital, Makhachkala, and in Kasumkent, Suleimanstal’sk district, on May 22.  A suicide bomber triggered the second explosive and perished.[xiv]

• According to a local police source, unknown gunmen shot and wounded two investigators in their vehicle in Nazran, Ingushetia, on May 22.[xv]

• Gunmen connected to the May 20 killing of a local deputy prosecutor also shot at off-duty guards from a female penitentiary near Sovietsky, Kabardo-Balkaria, waiting for a bus, killing three, on May 22, according to a source in the Prosecutor General’s Office.[xvi]

• According to the Russian Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergencies, and Natural Disasters, an explosion on the Mozdok-Gazimagomed gas pipeline occurred near Kizlyar, Dagestan, in the early hours of May 21.  Officials could not determine a reason for the blast, but Kizlyar has been the site of numerous recent terrorist attacks.[xvii]

• An official spokesman at the prosecutor general’s office told reporters that masked gunmen killed the deputy prosecutor of the Baksan district, Kabardo-Balkaria, on May 20.[xviii]

Civil-Society Events

• The Spiritual Board of Muslims of North Ossetia (DUMSO) accepted the resignation of the republic’s controversial, Salafi-sympathetic mufti, Ali-haji Yevteyev, on May 24.  Yevteyev’s appointment previously had been an experiment by authorities to foster greater dialogue between Salafi and Shafii adherents.[xix]