First quarter of 2011: 211 persons lost in armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the first three months of this year, at least 468 persons suffered or became victims of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. Of them, 211 persons were killed and 257 injured. These are the results of calculations of the "Caucasian Knot", based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The death list includes 103 persons, announced by the authorities as members of the armed underground, 65 civilians, 37 law enforcers and military servicemen and 6 state officials. The list of injured persons includes at least 94 power agents, 158 civilians, 3 militants and 2 deputies (parliamentarians) in Dagestan.

The first quarter of the year saw 53 terror acts and explosions, and at least 67 armed clashes. 13 terror acts were prevented by the police. For ten times the legal regime of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) was introduced in North-Caucasian republics.

In total, 30 terror acts and explosions were committed in January-March in Dagestan, 9 - in Kabardino-Balkaria, 5 - in Chechnya, 4 - in Ingushetia and the Moscow Region each, and 1 - in North Ossetia. In total, these terror acts and explosions killed 61 persons, namely: 52 civilians, 4 power agents, 4 militants and 1 state official. At least 186 persons were wounded: 149 civilians, 36 power agents and one militant.

The bloodiest terror act was committed by a suicide bomber in the Moscow Airport "Domodedovo", which claimed 37 lives and injured 125 persons. Also, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Dagestani village of Gubden killing 5 persons and injuring 26 more. A large public resonance was caused by the terror act in the Elbrus region, where three tourists from the Moscow Region were killed and two more were wounded.

28 armed clashes were recorded in the first quarter of 2011 in Dagestan, 20 - in Kabardino-Balkaria, 10 - in Chechnya, 8 - in Ingushetia, and 1 - on the border of the Stavropol Territory and Karachay-Cherkessia. 105 persons were lost in them: 78 suspected militants, 25 power agents and two civilians. The list of wounded persons in North-Caucasian armed clashes includes 60 persons: 55 law enforcers and soldiers, 3 civilians and two militants.

Besides, one policeman was mistakenly wounded by a soldier of the Russian Interior Troops in the counterterrorist operation aimed to search militants in the Dagestani village of Gubden.

Most of the casualties were registered in Dagestan - 83 persons. Ingushetia and Moscow Region lost 37 persons each; the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) - 31, and Chechnya - 17. Six persons were killed in a battle on the border of the Stavropol Territory and Karachay-Cherkessia. 125 persons were wounded in the Moscow Region, 79 - in Dagestan, 22 - in Chechnya, 20 - in the KBR, 6 - in Ingushetia, and 4 - in the Stavropol Territory.

Seven attempts on lives of state officials were undertaken in January-March. Five terrorists' attempts were successful: in Ingushetia they killed the head of the Tsentralny District of Nazran; in Kabardino-Balkaria - the head of the Chegem District and the head of the village administration of Khasanya; and in Dagestan - assistant of the head of the local department of the Federal Tax Service and deputy head of the Department of Architecture of the Sovietskiy District of Makhachkala. In two cases, also in Dagestan, two local deputies were wounded.

At least eight assassination attempts on law enforcers and militaries were committed: five of them in Dagestan, one - in Ingushetia, Chechnya and North Ossetia each. As a result, five power agents were killed, one was seriously injured by explosion and one was stabbed.

Apart from described above, at least ten crimes in the first quarter of this year in Northern Caucasus had to do with armed attacks on peaceful residents and civilian objects. As a result, ten civilians were killed and six wounded; most of them - in Dagestan.

At least four persons were kidnapped in January-March; two of them disappeared in Chechnya, one - in Dagestan and Ingushetia each. In particular, they kidnapped Magomed Taisumov, a close relative of the Yamadaev family and former head of staff of the Russian GRU special-purpose battalion "Vostok" in Chechnya. He was later found murdered.

On suspicion of involvement in illegal armed formation (IAFs), helping militants and participation in the rally against kidnappings, in the period from January 1 to March 31, at least 264 persons were detained: 175 persons - in Dagestan, 52 - in Chechnya, 19 - in Ingushetia, 5 - in Kabardino-Balkaria and in Moscow each, 4 - in Bashkortostan, 2 - abroad, and 1 - in Volgograd and Krasnodar Territory each. In the Bashkir city of Oktiabrskiy, a group was detained, which, according to investigators, for two years operated under the name of "Oktiabrskiy Jama'at of Imarat Kavkaz".