Five militants eliminated in Makhachkala special operation, including ISIL cell leader Abu Muhammad - FSB
MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) - Russian security officers in Makhachkala, jointly with police officers, have eliminated the leader of the Vilayat Caucasus of the international terrorist organization Islamic State, Rustam Aselderov ( aka Abu Muhammad), and four militants from his close entourage, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a press release on Sunday.
Aselderov was involved in the preparation and carrying out of a number of terror attacks in Russia and a series of murders, according to the FSB.
During the special operation in the village of Talgi, Leninsky district, Makhachkala, on December 3, officers blocked a property where the terrorists were hiding. "When offered to surrender during the negotiating process the militants fired an assault rifle against the law enforcement officers, who fired back, causing the criminals to sustain injuries incompatible with life," the FSB said.
"Among the neutralized bandits, one has been identified as the Vilayat Caucasus leader of the international terrorist organization Islamic State, Asedelrov, Rustam Magomedovich, born 1981 (aka Abu Muhammad), alongside four militants from his close entourage. Officers have recovered from the scene an assault rifle, a large number of munitions and explosive substances," the statement said.
There were no casualties among the law enforcement personnel and civilians.
Aselderov first came under law enforcement radar as an active abettor of Dagestani militants in the spring of 2007, the FSB spokesperson said. In 2009 he joined one of the so-called "central sector" gangs. In the summer of 2010 he headed up the "Kadarsky" gang and was appointed first deputy to militant leader I. Daudov whom he succeeded as the Dagestani leader of the Imarat Caucasus after the latter's death in 2012.
In 2014 Aselderov was among the first to swear allegiance to Islamic State. "In June of 2015 representatives from this terrorist organization announced the creation on the Russian Federation territory of the so-called Vilayat Caucasus led by Aselderov. His duties included providing criminal leadership in the republic and organizing high-profile attacks in the North Caucasus region and in central Russia, including suicide bombings. The bloodiest of their acts of terrorism were the attacks on public transport and at the railway station in the city of Volgograd in 2013, which claimed many lives," the FSB said.
In addition, Aselderov masterminded a number of crimes including an attempt (foiled by the FSB) at terrorist attacks by two female suicide bombers in Moscow's Red Square on New Year's eve on December 31, 2010; two terrorist attacks in February 2011 in the village of Gubden in Dagestan's Karabudakhkent district (in the first one, the bomb killed a woman, M.I. Khorosheva, near the entrance to the village police department; in the second, the bomb blew up a vehicle driven by her common-law husband V.Y. Razdobudko near a road patrol checkpoint).
Aselderov's terrorists were also responsible for the suicide explosions of two cars in Makhachkala in 2011 which killed five police officers and injured over 40 civilians; a double terror attack in May 2012 near a checkpoint on the Astrakhan-Makhachkala highway, which killed 40 people and injured over 100; and car explosions in 2013, near a bailiffs' office building in Makhachkala and near a road safety police building in Pyatigorsk, Stavropol Territory
Aselderov and his cell are believed to have been involved in an attack on the Dzhemikent road safety police checkpoint in Dagestan's Derbent district in February 2016.
Aselderov was also directly involved in the killing of three hunters in a wooded area in Dagestan's Karabudakhkent district in 2010, in killing imams in Karamakhi and Kadar in Dagestan's Buinaksk district in July and September of 2011; and in killing five hunters in a wooded area near Karabudakhkent in February 2012, according to the FSB.
Aselderov is thought to be responsible for the kidnapping and killing of the head of the Karamakhi village in September of 2015, as well as other numerous assaults on law enforcement and military officers and civilians, the FSB spokesperson said.
Aselderov was on the federal and international wanted lists under Articles 105, 222, 205 (part four), 205 (part two), 278, 317, and 209 of the Russian Criminal Code, the spokesperson said. The terrorist was also placed on the sanctions list of the UN Security Council.
"The FSB's successful special operation resulted in significant reduction of terrorist activity in Dagestan and disorganized the militant management. In addition, it has prevented them from staging terrorist attacks in and outside of the republic over the New Year holiday period," the FSB said.
