Dagestan police gives possible cause of policeman’s murder in Russia’s Dagestan

DAGESTAN, 15 January, Caucasus Times: A policeman of the local police directorate was gunned down in the Sergokalinskiy District of Dagestan on Saturday, 13 January.

Unidentified men fire on a vehicle of the district police officer, Kasum Gazimagomedov, when he left for the village of Aymaumakhi in the morning where he worked. Employees of the directorate do not suspect that the policeman become a victim of revenge by militants.
Exactly a year ago, on 13 January 2006, thanks to the district police officer, Gazimagomedov, a group of militants was detected and partially killed. They were the remainder of the sabotage and terrorist group of Rasul Makasharipov of the Dagestani Shari’ah jamaat, (Makasharipov was
killed in a special operation in July 2005 in Makhachkala).

Among the killed was the leader of the gang Shamil Abidov, an associate of the prominent rebel commander Rappani Khalilov. According to the Interior Ministry, Abidov was sent to Dagestan to continue a series of terrorist acts against employees of the law-enforcement bodies.

At that time, the law-enforcement bodies searched for Abidov’s group (made up of five men) in forests, but the militants escaped the persecution successfully owing to foggy weather. Kasum Gazimagomedov received information from residents of the village of Aymaumakhi on 13 January that there were two militants in the village, moreover, one of them was identified as Shamil Abidov, who was a relative one of the villagers.

Before help reached, Gazimagomedov himself started persecuting the militants. Abidov and his minion Telman Idrisov were murdered in the operation. The others managed to escape. According to the Interior Ministry, Abidov killed seven policemen at least. There are also reports
about Idrisov’s involvement in committing several other terrorist acts.

Kasum Gazimagomedov was presented to the Order of Courage after the January operation last year. However, he missed the award ceremony.