Five militants killed in Dagestan - National Counterterrorism Committee
MOSCOW. Sept 27 (Interfax) - Five militants have been killed during a special operation in Dagestan. Derbent criminal ringleader Sherif Akhmedov may be amongst them, the information center of the National Counterterrorism Committee told Interfax, citing preliminary data.
"The active phase of the special operation is over now. Special-purpose forces neutralized five militants, and Derbent ringleader Sherif Akhmedov born in 1981 was reportedly amongst them," the center said.
The militants were acting in the Derbent and Tabasaran districts of Dagestan and the town of Derbent within the Abu-Seif gang, it said.
"Akhmedov had been on the federal most wanted list since 2011 as the main demolition expert of the militants," the center said.
The committee's operative staff in Dagestan reported that Akhmedov was involved in over 20 terrorist crimes in Derbent in the past two years alone.
"They [the crimes] include blowing up buses carrying border guards and special-purpose forces servicemen, the terrorist attack against the Derbent synagogue and bombings of shops and shopping malls organized by the gang with the purpose of intimidation and extortion," the committee said.
"Neutralization of Akhmedov by the law enforcement forces inflicted serious damage on the criminal groups operating in the North Caucasus," it said.
The operation did not sustain civilian or law enforcement casualties.
