Since after five in the morning (local time) this Thursday, the “anti-terrorist operation” regime has been in force in Nalchik, capital of the Russian North Caucasian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, with a Muslim majority. There are already, according to the security forces, two dead and the operation extends to the Cherekski district, located on the outskirts of Nalchik.
According to information released by the Russian agency RIA-Novosti, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) obtained data “on the location of armed individuals involved in terrorist activities,” who had barricaded themselves in an agricultural complex. called Nasip.
The agents urged the suspected terrorists to lay down their weapons and surrender, to which they responded by opening fire. Subsequently, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK in its Russian acronym) reported that two insurgents who were “planning terrorist attacks and sabotage” died during the operation. According to the NAK, the members of the cell “belong to an international terrorist organization.”
No victims
The report states that there were no victims among members of the security forces or among civilians, but does not specify whether or not there were arrests. It is also not clear whether this group is related to the attack on March 22 at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, where 145 people died, which was claimed by the Islamic State.
On March 31, in the Russian North Caucasian republic of Dagestan, in its capital Makhachkala and the town of Kaspiisk, the anti-terrorist operation regime was also declared and ended with the arrest of four people of Central Asian origin. According to the NAK, they “directly assisted the Crocus City Hall terrorists.”
Also in early March, in the republic of Ingushetia, also in the North Caucasus, FSB units blocked six armed men on the fourth floor of a residential building in the town of Karabulak. The six suspected terrorists perished in the shootout. The NAK pointed out that all of them had sworn allegiance to Daesh, specifically, according to the BBC, they were part of the so-called Vilayat Jorasan, the Afghan branch of ISIS. US authorities believe that Vilayat Jorasan is most likely behind the attack on Crocus City Hall and deny the involvement of Ukraine and the West, as the Kremlin has been denouncing.
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