AVOID MUSLIM DAGESTAN

 

One man dead and 11 people injured after jihadist gunmen open fire on tourists as they visit ancient Russian fortress

•    One person killed, and 11 injured in Russia's Dagestan republic
•    Tourist group under fire while visiting fortress in city of Derbent
•    Unknown gunmen fired at tourists from a nearby forest, then fled
•    Dagestan has been the scene of Islamic insurgency since the 1990s

By WILL STEWART
PUBLISHED: 02:39 EST, 30 December 2015
DailyMail.com

One man has been killed and 11 injured in shooting at a fortress popular with tourists in Dagestan in southern Russia.

The victims were part of a group of 20 tourists visiting the Naryn-Kala fortress in the city of Derbent when two unknown gunmen opened fire from a nearby forest on Tuesday night.

The dead man has been identified as a 26-year-old border police, as local authorities say they believe the shooting to be a terrorist attack by Islamist insurgents.

Semen Sporyshev, 26, had been working as a contract soldier at the state border in Dagestan, according to local media. 

Today, the head of the Republic of Dagestan has said that he believes militant jihadist rebels to be behind the deadly attack.

'This is most likely a trick by some remaining bandit groups or militants who have survived and seek vengeance for the peace and tranquillity in which Derbent residents live,' Ramazan Abdulatipov told Interfax news agency.

'We celebrated the 2,000th anniversary of Derbent town and this gave the people hope for living in peace. But apparently there are still people who are annoyed by this stability,' he said.

The group was reportedly made up of locals from Derbent and the surrounding Derbentskiy District, and had been standing on a panoramic terrace of the ancient fortress when the gunmen attacked.

Local police are reportedly searching for two men, who fled the scene in a black Lada Priora car, after firing some 70 shots at the tourists.

'As a result of a gun attack 12 people were hurt, one of whom died,' an official in the region's health ministry told RIA Novosti.

The wounded, four of whom were in a serious condition, were getting medical treatment, the official said.

The Interfax news agency reported that the tourists were local residents who were visiting a viewing platform at the fortress in Derbent when the unidentified gunmen opened fire from a nearby forest.

Gun and bomb attacks are common in Dagestan, a mostly-Muslim internal republic in Russia's troubled North Caucasus region.

Moscow has been fighting Islamist insurgents in Dagestan since the 1990s, however, attacks targeting tourists in the region are unusual.

The republic of Dagestan is Russia's most ethnically diverse republic, with ethnic Russians making up just 3.6 per cent of the total population.  

No claim of responsibility from rebels has so far been observed.

Blast derails Russian freight train 

Reuters
Sunday, April 4, 2010 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A bomb exploded on a railway track in Russia's Dagestan province on Sunday, derailing a freight train days after suicide bombers killed 12 people in the region, Russian news agencies reported. Nobody was hurt. 

The pre-dawn blast on a line leading from Moscow to the ex-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan caused eight carriages of a train carrying construction materials to derail, ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported, citing police and emergency officials. 

Russia is on edge after suicide attacks in Moscow and Dagestan killed more than 50 people in the past week. 

Security was tight as President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended an overnight ceremony on Russian Orthodox Easter -- the most important holiday for the country's dominant religion. 

On Wednesday, two suicide bombings in the Dagestani town of Kizlyar killed 12 people including nine police officers, authorities said. 

That attack came two days after twin suicide bombings in Moscow's metro killed at least 40 and stoked fears of a major campaign of attacks in Russia's heartland by militant based in the heavily Muslim North Caucasus, which includes Dagestan. 

In November, a bombing blamed on North Caucasus militants killed 26 people on a passenger train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. 

The Chechen rebel leader seeking an Islamist state across the North Caucasus has claimed responsibility for the Moscow metro bombings. Russian authorities said on Friday that one of the bombers was a 17-year-old Dagestan native, the widow of a militant killed by Russian forces. 

Like neighboring Chechnya and nearby Ingushetia, Dagestan has been plagued by an upsurge of violence in the past two years, with frequent attacks targeting law enforcement. 

Sunday's blast left a 3.5-meter-wide crater on the railbed and damaged some 300 meters of track, ITAR-Tass cite railroad police as saying. 

A passenger train from Siberia to Azerbaijan's capital Baku was stranded on the track by the damage, it said.

Daghestan's Islamic Fighters Continue To Hone Military, PR Skills

January 27, 2009

Radio Free Europe

By Liz Fuller

Over the past two years, Ingushetia and Daghestan have eclipsed Chechnya as the most unstable North Caucasus republics. Both regions are plagued by almost daily low-level violence that pits police and security forces against committed Islamic armed militant groups and civilians suspected of sympathizing with or abetting those groups.

At least 34 Interior Ministry officials were killed in Daghestan in 2008 in 96 separate attacks. The most prominent victim was Russian General Valery Lipinsky, who was gunned down on the street in Makhachkala on December 29. The Islamic militant group Shariat Jamaat claimed responsibility for that killing, which it described in a January 5 press release as "a gift from our Amir Muaz to the infidel [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin."

Shariat Jamaat is the oldest Islamic resistance movement in Daghestan. Chechen oppositionists who were among the co-founders in the late 1980s of the Islamic Revival Party established an unarmed Islamic movement in Daghestan even before the collapse of the USSR. That movement coalesced as a military unit separate from, but aligned with, the radical wing of the Chechen resistance at the time of the incursion into Daghestan in the summer of 1999 by radical Chechen Islamists led by field commander Shamil Basayev.

Any detailed account of Shariat's evolution is problematic, given the secrecy under which the resistance operates throughout the North Caucasus and the difficulties inherent in trying to separate rumor, myth, and official Russian propaganda from fact. The moderate Chechen resistance website chechenpress.org published on August 8, 2006, a list of 18 attacks perpetrated by militants in Daghestan between late December 2001 and the end of 2004. Those attacks included the killings of three senior Daghestan Interior Ministry officials in September 2002, March 2004, and December 2004, and of republican Nationalities Minister Magomedsalikh Gusayev in August 2003.

But in the first half of 2005, Shariat stepped up its activities under the leadership of Avar field commander Rasul Maksharipov, a veteran of the fighting in Chechnya, carrying out up to 55 terrorist attacks that killed more than 40 police officers in a wave of violence that led Moscow-based analyst Aleksei Malashenko in September 2005 to describe the situation to "The Guardian" as "close to civil war."

Initially, the preferred modus operandi for such assassinations was improvised explosive devices, either in the form of roadside bombs detonated by remote control when a police or military vehicle drove past, or attached to the car or placed near the entrance to the home of a specific victim. A spokesman for Shariat told RFE/RL in August 2008 that Shariat fighters are adept at assembling such devices. Alternatively, a group of Shariat fighters might open fire on their intended victim's automobile. "The Times" reported on July 19, 2005, that one militant apprehended several months earlier had a list of the addresses and telephone numbers of some 100 intended victims.

In an interview published in the Russian daily "Gazeta" on February 15, 2006, then-Russian Deputy Interior Minister Andrei Novikov said Shariat had recently started duplicating tactics used by militants in Iraq: an anonymous caller informs the police that a crime has been committed at a specific location; police officers are dispatched to investigate and walk straight into an ambush. Shariat used a variant on this tactic in two separate unsuccessful attempts, in August 2006 and February 2007, to assassinate Daghestan's Interior Minister Lieutenant General Adilgirey Magomedtagirov, who frequently travels personally to inspect the site of fatal attacks on senior officials.

Shariat commander Maksharipov was killed in a counterinsurgency operation in Makhachkala in early July 2005, but his demise resulted only in a very slight immediate decline in the frequency of militant attacks. There was, however, a more pronounced lull in 2006, with only 27 police officers killed during the first 10 months of that year, according to kavkaz-memo.ru on October 27, 2006.

Gadji Melikov, who succeeded Maksharipov as Shariat's commander, was himself killed in July 2006, and Melikov's successor, Rappani Khalilov, in September 2007. But the deaths of successive commanders and of dozens of rank-and-file fighters have had only minimal impact on Shariat and the territorially based subunits subordinate to it (based in Buynaksk and Khasavyurt in the north, and Derbent in the south).

Over the past two years, Shariat has given two interviews to RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service -- in March 2007 and summer 2008. It has never granted a formal interview to any other media outlet. In the earlier of those two interviews, a Shariat spokesman defined Shariat as a subdivision of the resistance Caucasus Front; its members have pledged allegiance to Doku Umarov in his capacity as amir of the North Caucasus. The spokesman summarized Shariat's twin objectives as expelling Russian nonbelievers and their local collaborators from the entire North Caucasus and establishing an Islamic state on that territory. To achieve that end, he said, Shariat considers it legitimate to target police and security officials, the pro-regime Muslim clergy, and clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Asked why Shariat opted for military rather than political methods to achieve its aims, the spokesman dismissed the concept of "political struggle," whether in Chechnya, Russia, or the United States, as "a farce [staged by] unbelievers." He similarly dismissed as "pointless" any negotiations with Daghestan's "puppet authorities," and said the decision on whether to embark on talks with Moscow lies with Umarov and his advisers.

In the subsequent interview, the Shariat spokesman said that one of its two original objectives has indeed been accomplished -- meaning the declaration by Umarov in October 2007 of an Islamic state encompassing the entire North Caucasus. Umarov proclaimed himself amir of that Islamic state, and Shariat's fighters have formally acknowledged him as such. The spokesman added that Shariat's tactics have not changed, and that armed struggle "is the only appropriate response to the occupation of Muslims' lands."

The strategy selected for that struggle is "a partisan war that can last as long as you like and exhaust the enemy's resources and morale. In addition, such tactics enable us to avoid unjustifiably high military losses, which is extremely important" given the enemy's numerical superiority. At the same time, he repeated that peace talks with Russia are hypothetically possible, but only if and when Russia withdraws its troops from the territory of the North Caucasus Emirate and provides security guarantees as a precondition for peace talks.

Asked whether Shariat has ever regretted launching an attack, he said its members regret that complete innocents are sometimes killed by police in the course of so-called counterterrrorism operations against Shariat fighters. He warned the population to avoid whenever possible the vicinity of police stations and police officials, both of which could at any moment be targeted by Shariat. That warning has since been repeated, most recently in the January 5 press release claiming responsibility for Lipinsky's killing.

Understandably, the spokesman refused to give any estimate of Shariat's combined strength, other than to dismiss as risible official claims that it consists of between five and six small groups of fighters. Interior Minister Magomedtagirov told a counterterrorism conference in Makhachkala in November 2008 that there are seven "extremist groups" in Daghestan with no more than 15 members each, according to kavkaz-uzel.ru on December 14.

The Shariat spokesman did say, however, that most of Shariat's fighters are young, and that they come from diverse social groups and professional backgrounds, including students, teachers, doctors, former bureaucrats, and some religious figures. He said there is an uninterrupted stream of volunteers who wish to join the resistance, but that "we cannot take them all." He did not give any indication of the ethnic makeup of the resistance, but given that its former leaders include an Avar (Maksharipov), a Kumyk (Melikov), and a Lak (Khalilov), it is reasonable to infer that Shariat treats members of all Daghestan's ethnic groups as equals. The spokesman also admitted that some Shariat members come from outside Daghestan, and even outside Russia. In October 2006, Daghestan's Interior Ministry claimed to have apprehended a citizen of Georgia, identified as Akhmed Gamzatovich Gasanov (possibly a member of Georgia's fast-dwindling Avar minority), who had allegedly been a member of an "illegal armed formation" since 1999.

Asked to define Shariat's current military objectives, the spokesman said the resistance leadership has opted for a war of attrition in the form of a long-term partisan war in the North Caucasus that may be broadened to encompass the whole of the Russian Federation, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. He did not give any time frame for doing so.

Shariat has its own, Russian-language website, jamaatshariat.org, which is described as an "independent Daghestani Internet information agency." Its regular press releases, whether giving details of successful operations or explaining its rationale for waging jihad, quote extensively from the Koran to support their arguments and are notable for their sophistication. The same cannot be said of some other Caucasus jamaats: the theological arguments adduced in 2006 by the Kabardino-Balkar jamaat amounted to little more than hurling slabs of doctrine at the heads of recalcitrant co-religionists unwilling to join the jihad.

Shariat's spokesman told RFE/RL last year that the group's propaganda campaign is proving successful, and that "many Muslims who do not risk their lives by participating directly in jihad do all they can to help [us]." He added that the plutocracy and corruption that pervade domestic politics, together with arbitrary reprisals by the police and security organs, incline ever more people to sympathize with the resistance. "Popular perceptions are changing," he said, and more people now believe that the Caucasus can survive without Russia.

 

Russian forces kill five in Dagestan

September 4, 2008

Russian forces killed five suspected Muslim rebels in the southern region of Dagestan today, Interfax news agency reported.

The shootout took place in a house in Khasavyurt, about 60km (40 miles) west of the capital Makhachkala and the centre of fighting between rebels and federal forces in the increasingly violent north Caucasus region.

"According to preliminary information five rebels were killed," a security service source told Interfax. A civilian also died in the clash, and two security agents were wounded.

Bomb attacks and shootouts hit Dagestan and next-door Ingushetia almost daily - in contrast to increased stability in neighbouring Chechnya, where Russia has fought two wars against separatist rebels since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Analysts say the growing violence could destabilise the north Caucasus, and separatist feeling there could be fuelled by Russia's recognition of two rebel provinces in neighbouring Georgia as independent states.

Dagestan is a Russian republic of 2.5 million wedged between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea. Analysts say poverty is one of the main drivers of the violence as disenchanted youths join radical Islamic groups.

On Wednesday police said rebels killed a well-known television journalist who campaigned against radical Islam. Three days earlier a leading opposition website owner died of gunshot wounds while in police custody in Ingushetia.

Reuters

 

Dagestan: Muslim Factions Clash

An eruption of violence closes one of the oldest mosques in the Caucasus.

By Rinat Turabov in Derbent (CRS No. 282, 15-Apr-05)

 

A mass fight in the main mosque of the southern Dagestani city of Derbent last week has highlighted apparent religious divisions in what was formerly one of the most peaceful areas of the North Caucasus.

 

The imam of a local mosque, whose worshippers formed one side in the battle, claimed unspecified Islamic extremists provoked the fight in the ancient mosque. The head of the city administration appeared to back these claims, while the main Muslim body in the republic suggested Derbent religious authorities shared the blame for the disturbance.

 

The violence, which erupted on April 9, involved around 300 people, 25 of whom were admitted to Derbent’s central hospital with varying degrees of injury. Nine of these were kept in hospital for observation and on April 12 three were in a critical condition. The mosque itself has been temporarily closed.

By early morning of April 10, there was nothing other than a stronger than usual police presence and two or three curious onlookers to hint at the events of the night before.

 

That evening it was possible to inspect the interior of the mosque. Everything had been turned upside down. The altar was on its side. Mirrors and sound equipment were smashed. Building materials – stone, wood and tiles – lay strewn across the floor, apparently used as weapons during the disturbances. Streaks of blood were visible everywhere. In one place, blood with a clump of hair stuck to it stained the wall. Lying broken on the floor was the flagpole from a green banner symbolising Islam.

 

The UN cultural agency UNESCO dates the Juma mosque back to the eighth century, making it arguably the oldest mosque on Russian soil.

Dagestan is well known for its high levels of criminality and political violence. However, the southern part of the republic, which borders Azerbaijan and in which Derbent is the main city, had until recently the reputation of being a quiet region.

The conflict began during Friday prayers, when locals from the Bab-ul-Abwab mosque came as usual to the bigger Juma (or “Friday”) mosque for worship. There they got into an argument with a group of young men from the Juma mosque.

The former, older group, who view themselves as Muslim traditionalists, called the latter “Wahhabis” - a catch-all term for Islamic fundamentalists influenced by Saudi Arabia.

 

“We were praying on Friday when one of the Wahhabis standing in the front row began to swear at our community and raised his voice at [us]. The others backed him up, and a scuffle began,” said Isamudin-haji, imam of the Bab-ul-Abwab mosque.

“It was impossible to carry on the ceremony. They gave the elders [the Bab-ul-Abwab worshippers] no chance at all.

“Then we decided to get together in the mosque once more and go to speak to them. Before this we also met with the imam chosen by them, but without any result. On Saturday we gathered together as a jamaat (community) and went to the lunchtime namaz [prayers]. There were around 200 of us. We entered the mosque, where there were around 30 people, but didn’t manage to complete the namaz. They took out knives and metal casing and attacked us. We were forced to defend ourselves.”

It took the police an hour to bring the fight to a halt, and the injured were sent to hospital. Officers let the men from Bab-ul-Abwab leave in groups, and took some away for questioning.

 

The Spiritual Board of Muslims of Dagestan, the main official religious body in the republic, suggested the fight had been planned in advance and weapons brought specially, but local people said there were very few knives involved.

The next morning, worshippers from Bab-ul-Abwab told IWPR that the police had treated them sympathetically, regarding their actions as carried out in self-defence.

The head of the city administration of Derbent, Felix Kaziakhmedov, appeared to back the traditionalists, saying, “We will get to the bottom of who finances these groups [a reference to the alleged Wahabbi worshippers].

“We need to bring our influence on [them], right down to closing [them down]. And we are working on this already. I want to state that all guilty parties will be punished. We have given no-one reason to doubt that we have the strength to maintain order in the city.”

The Spiritual Board of Muslims of Dagestan, however, hinted that the local religious authorities share some of the blame for failing to keep order. And Magdi-Haji Mutailov, deputy mufti of Dagestan, told IWPR that there was now a need for a new authority to try to prevent such disputes breaking out.

“Today the spiritual board is on the side of those who were hurt. So we can avoid these excesses in future, we are planning to assemble all the imams of southern Dagestan and collectively appoint a concrete person who commands respect and to name him chairman of the Council of Alims [or Islamic teachers]. So that he can be the arbiter amongst the Muslims of Dagestan on all controversial issues,” he said.

Enver Kisriev, a Dagestan scholar and author of a book on Islam and politics in the republic, said that the spiritual board was trying to exert greater control over southern Dagestan.

 

Rinat Turabov is a correspondent with Moskovsky Komsomolets Dagestan in Derbent. Aishat Abdullayeva, editor of Moskovsky Komsomolets Dagestan, contributed to this report from Makhachkala.