Fight in Karlanyurt

After two December terrorist attacks in Volgograd, the risk of a terrorist threat in the south of Russia increased significantly, as a result of which operational-search measures throughout the North Caucasus began to take place more often. The importance of these events was especially high due to the fact that in February 2014 the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi were to start ^[2] .

On January 12, 2014, during the operational-search activities in the Khasavyurt district at 7:05 a clash occurred between fighters of the Dagestan SOBR and militants (4 people) ^[3] . The militants, taking advantage of the dark time of the day, opened heavy fire from an ambush on the security forces, as a result of which two SOBR fighters were killed on the spot and three were wounded ^[1] . The siloviki returned fire and destroyed two fighters on the spot ^[4] . The surviving bandits took refuge in a private house, fighting off attacks with small arms and grenades. Law enforcement officers blocked the house, but the bandits refused to negotiate and continued to break the cordon ^[5] . In the course of the subsequent shootout, two more FSB officers of the Russian Federation were injured. By 11:00 the active phase of the operation was completed: a total of four bandits were destroyed ^[1] , and sappers began to search the explosive devices in the house ^[6] .

Losses

According to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee , as a result of the battle, three operatives were killed and five were injured (including three SOBR fighters and two FSB officers). Four militants were destroyed ^[1] . There were no casualties among the civilian population ^[7] .

Criminal Case

The investigators confiscated three Kalashnikovs, two pistols, four full-time hand grenades and two self-made. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Dagestan opened a criminal case under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation : 208th “Participation in illegal armed groups”, 222nd “Illegal circulation of weapons”, 223rd “Illegal manufacture of weapons, ammunition and explosive devices” and 317th “ Violation of the life of a law enforcement officer ” ^[8] .

Militant personalities

The identities of the two militants were identified immediately: they were Rustam Dagirov (born in 1986), a native of Karlanyurt, and Marat Idrisov (born in 1982), a resident of the village of Andirey and the head of the Khasavyurt criminal group nicknamed Asadulla. The remaining two were identified as Sirazhdin Cherkesov (born 1985), a resident of Khasavyurt and a member of the same gang group named Atashka, and Arsen Khangeryerev (born 1986), also a resident of Khasavyurt ^[9] . The investigation found that the killed Dagirov and Idrisov were involved in criminal activities in the North Caucasus and even collaborated with terrorists. In particular, Idrisov was accused of a number of attempts on religious and public figures of the Khasavyurt region, as well as law enforcement officials, for which in November 2013 he was put on the federal wanted list. In December 2012, the imam of a mosque was shot by him in the village of Andirey ^[10] , in November 2013 the machine of a madrasah teacher was shot at, and in December 2013 a car with a local police officer and police investigator was executed ^[1] . The biggest crime that Idrisov was involved in was the explosion on December 27, 2013 of a car bomb near the traffic police building in Pyatigorsk , when three people died ^[11] . Dagirov provided the bandits with food and medicine, provided them with their own house for rest and treatment, and also made homemade improvised explosive devices for terrorist attacks in the Khasavyurt district ^[1] .