On December 10-16, four persons fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week of December 10-16, 2018, in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, two people perished and two others were wounded. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

According to law enforcers, both casualties were linked to the activities of the armed underground in Ingushetia.

Explosion in Nazran

On December 12, after 6:45 p.m. Moscow time, an explosion occurred near the "Kovcheg" (Ark) Shopping Centre in Nazran. The Administration of the "Rosgvardia" (Russian National Guard) in Northern Caucasus reported that during detention of suspects, a man threw a grenade, and two "Rosgvardia" servicemen were wounded. According to law enforcement sources, the two attackers were shot dead by response fire; nobody suffered among civilians. Eyewitnesses have reported that those killed were Khaniev, a seller of fragrances, and Muslim Khashagulgov, a civil activist and the head of the security of the shopping centre. Activists doubted the official version of the incident and treated it as "a provocation against public figures." According to their version, Khashagulgov was an active participant in the October protest actions in Magas; he had nothing to do with any illegal activities. Khasan Katsiev, an eyewitness to what happened, said that before the explosion, law enforcers were in one of the premises of the shopping centre, and apart from the explosion, shots were heard from there. The Council of Teips (family clans) of Ingushetia sent a request to the prosecutor's office demanding to objectively investigate the incident in Nazran and declared an all-republican mourning day for the casualties.

Detentions of suspected terrorist financiers

On December 11, in Moscow, Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, agents of the Russian FSB, acting jointly with the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and the "Rosgvardia" (Russian National Guard), conducted a number of searches. Law enforcers reported that seven persons were detained on suspicion of having transferred, since 2016, over 38 million roubles to militants of the "Islamic State" and the "Jebhat-an-Nusra", terrorist organizations banned in Russia by the court. During the searches, a significant number of banking cards involved in financing terrorism, extremist literature, instructions for the purchase of equipment and telephone SIM-cards were found and seized, law enforcers have reported. According to the FSB, under the pretext of charity, natives from Northern Caucasus raised money for funding terrorist organizations.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 17, 2018 at 08:30 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.