Last week, armed conflict in Northern Caucasus took away 12 lives

During the week - on February 7-13 - at least 24 persons became victims of the glowing armed conflict in Northern Caucasus; of them, 12 were killed and as many as that were wounded. These are the results of calculations of the "Caucasian Knot" made on the basis of its own materials and information from other open sources.

The 12 casualties include seven persons, announced by the authorities to be members of the armed underground; four are law enforcers, and one - a civilian from Ingushetia, gunned down by unidentified persons. At least ten power agents and two civilians were injured. There is no data about wounded or injured members of the armed underground, although such persons might be.

These seven days saw five explosions and nine armed clashes. Two terror acts, according to the law enforcement bodies, were prevented in Dagestan.

Out of the five explosions, three happened in Dagestan and two - in Chechnya. Thus, in the evening on February 7 an explosion was triggered en route of a militia car in Makhachkala, three militiamen suffered. On February 10, an Ural truck was first blown up and then shelled; it was carrying a unit of Russian interior troops along the highway Kizlyar-Korinovka in Dagestan; two soldiers were wounded. On February 11, in the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan a dead man was found who, according to investigators, was a militant and accidentally blew him up on his own bomb. In Grozny, two explosions were triggered on February 8, 15 minutes one after another, near militiaman's house. The militiaman and a 17-year-old passer-by were wounded.

On February 7, sappers managed to neutralize two self-made bombs in the Kirov District of Makhachkala. In the same city, on February 11 power agents de-mined a bomb near the mosque in Akushinskogo Street. The mine, attached to the bottom of his car, was reported by the driver.

Last week, eleven persons were lost in armed clashes: six suspected of involvement in illegal armed formations (IAFs), four power agents and one, probably, peaceful citizen. Four clashes were recorded last week in Chechnya, three in Dagestan, and one in Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria each. Also, four law enforcers were injured.

Thus, in the village of Tangi-Chu in Chechnya a military helicopter was attacked. The Shatoy District of the republic saw a week-long and large-scale special operation aimed to find a militants' grouping noticed by a local resident. During the special operation two suspected militants were killed and a militiaman was wounded. In Grozny, a suspected IAF member threw a grenade at OMON fighters, three of them were wounded. In Dagestan, two power agents were lost at shelling of a militia unit in Khasavyurt; while a suspected militant was shot dead near this city. In a shootout in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, a militiaman, an FSB agent and one of the attackers were killed. In Ingushetia, power agents shot dead two men who opened fire on them from a car.

Besides, in a mass brawl that burst out in the Dagestani city of Yuzhno-Sukhokumsk one of its participants was wounded from a traumatic gun. According to one version, the fight was between supporters of the Islamic currents of Wahhabism and Tariqa; the brawl took place after the meeting of local residents, where they expressed their distrust to the ROVD (District Interior Division) head.

On February 7-13, at least 18 persons were detained on suspicion of involvement in IAFs, or as militants' helpers: five in Chechnya, four in Ingushetia, three in the Kabardino-Balkaria, two in Dagestan, and four in Bashkortostan. One of them, in Chechnya, was urged to surrender.

The detentions and arrests of relatives and friends of Magomed Evloev, a resident of Ingushetia, were the most resonant last week's events. According to investigators, he was the suicide bomber who committed the terror act in the "Domodedovo" Airport. It is also noteworthy that in the Bashkir city Oktiabrskiy, on February 7, a group of four men were detained, who, according to the investigation, acted for two years under the name of Oktiabrskiy Jama'at of "Imarat Kavkaz". A large arsenal of weapons was confiscated from the detainees.