A suicide bombing has killed six police officers in Makhachkala amid a sharp escalation in violence as President Dmitry Medvedev considers who will rule Dagestan for the next four years.
Medvedev on Friday ordered Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov to “regularly” and “systematically” kill insurgents in the North Caucasus, the Kremlin’s web site said.
The president also ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to reinforce security in Dagestan and provide support to the relatives of the six police officers killed in the bombing outside a police building Wednesday, the Kremlin said.
Nurgaliyev told reporters in Makhachkala, Dagestan’s capital, on Friday that ministry investigators would team up with the Investigative Committee to probe large-scale crimes in Dagestan, Interfax reported.
The term of Dagestan’s incumbent president, Mukhu Aliyev, expires next month. Violence in the North Caucasus is often linked to regional appointments made by federal authorities.
Medvedev approved a list of presidential candidates proposed by United Russia in mid-December. The list includes Aliyev; the deputy head of the Dagestani government, Magomed Abdulayev; an aide to Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, Magomed Magomedov; Dagestani regional lawmaker Magomedsalam Magomedov; and the head of the Dagestani branch of the Federal Treasury, Saigidgusein Magomedov.
Maxim Agarkov, an analyst with the SK-Strategia think tank who previously worked as a terrorism analyst for the Interior Ministry, said Sunday that the surge in violence in Dagestan indicated that financing for rebel attacks had been recently boosted.
The increase in financing could have come from people interested in replacing Aliyev or could stem from a weakening of the control of financial inflows into Dagestan during the New Year’s holidays, when many people transferred money as gifts to relatives in the republic, he said.
But Agarkov said he doubted that the attacks would influence the appointment of Dagestan’s president. He said he expected Medvedev to reappoint Aliyev because he “suits both the federal center and the regional elites.”
Nurgaliyev on Friday ordered Dagestani police “to reinforce work to detect inside and outside sources of financing” for local insurgents.
The minister also promised “serious steps” in response to the increased activity of the insurgents in Dagestan.
Since Wednesday, two bombs have exploded in Makhachkala, a railroad bombing was prevented, a police officer was gunned down and two traffic police cars were attacked.
In the biggest attack, a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car in front of a traffic police building in the outskirts of Makhachkala, killing six police officers and injuring about 10 other people, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. The bomber tried to drive the Neva car into the building’s courtyard but was rammed by a police UAZ before detonating the explosives, which were equivalent to 50 to 100 kilograms of TNT. The blast left a 2.5-meter-wide crater and blew out windows more than 200 meters away.
On Thursday, law enforcement officers stormed a private house outside Makhachkala, killing two people linked to Wednesday’s bombing, the committee said. The officers confiscated two Kalashnikov rifles, two homemade bombs, a gun and the license plate of the car used in Wednesday’s bombing, from the house. An FSB source told RIA-Novosti that one of the two slain people, Ismail Ichakayev, was a chief aide to the leader of Dagestan’s main rebel group, Magomedali Vagabov.
On Wednesday, law enforcement officers defused a bomb planted on rail tracks in Makhachkala, Interfax reported. The disposal operation delayed a passenger train en route from Ukraine to Azerbaijan by several hours.
Following Medvedev’s orders to root out rebels, FSB officers stormed a private house serving as a rebel hideout in the village of Separatorny, located north of Makhachkala, at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Interfax reported. A rebel leader, Madrid Begov, 35, was killed in an ensuing shootout that lasted several hours, Interfax said. Begov had been wanted on suspicion of involvement in an attempt to kill a local FSB officer, Zulkaid Kaidov, in Makhachkala in April.
On Saturday, security forces killed three other rebels, including a newly named rebel leader, Marat Kurbanov. Law enforcement officers opened fire on a car carrying Kurbanov, two associates and several homemade bombs, after it refused to stop, Interfax said. The car exploded, killing the trio.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/medvedev-tells-fsb-to-regularly-kill-rebels/397066.html