Conflicting reports about attack on mosque in Makhachkala

On March 30, the "Caucasian Knot", referring to one of the parishioners of the "South" mosque in Makhachkala, Ramil Kurbanov, reported that "several dozens of armed men in dirty shoes, in camouflage uniforms and masks" allegedly attacked the mosque that day. "Having occupied all the entrances and exits of the religious building, they laid the parishioners on the floor, took away their phones and money, handcuffed several people and put plastic bags on their heads," the report said. "Three underage teenagers were among the detainees.

... The attackers accompanied their actions with selective abuse, kicks and blows from the butts of machine guns. Then all the detainees were put on a bus and taken to the side of the city of Izberg, to the nearby mountains. The bus made several stops along the way.

During one of them, the detainees were taken out of the bus, laid on the ground, and the backs of their heads were cut. Subsequently, stops were made every kilometer in order to drop off the detainees one at a time. The landing was again accompanied by swearing and beatings. Phones and money were not returned to anyone, so many had to hitchhike home."

According to R. Kurbanov, the attackers were law enforcement officers of the republic. "Although he could not specify the reason for the raid," the "Caucasian Knot" noted, "Kurbanov said that a week ago there was a small conflict between the imam and one of the parishioners in the mosque.

As one of the possible reasons for today's attack, Kurbanov called the fact that several Muslim converts from among the Russian-speaking population visit the mosque, and such intimidating actions, in his opinion, can turn the latter away from Islam.

However, the report of the attack was denied by the head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, Anzhela Martirosova. "None of the on-duty units of the Internal Affairs Directorate, nor the three regional departments, nor the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic has such information registered," she said on the air of Ekho Moskvy. And in an interview with the editors of the Vesti-Northern Caucasus website, A. Martirosova noted that the DUM of Dagestan had not heard anything about the incident either. The same thing, as reported by Gazeta.Ru , was also stated by the imam of the Yuzhnaya mosque.

On May 30, the victims of the March 30 incident met and told the "Caucasian Knot" that they did not want to go to court.

“The policemen treated us well, may God punish them, we met with the leaders of the city police, they said that they would find the guilty and punish them. We don’t want anything from them. Immediately after the incident, young people frequented the mosque, whom they had never seen before "They kept talking that the policemen should definitely be punished, but we explained to them that we have no claims against law enforcement officers. After that, the 'guests' disappeared," said one of the victims, Magomed Kazanbiev. He suggested that the cause of the conflict could be a verbal skirmish between the imam and one of the parishioners.

Sources

• Akhmednabiev A. Mosque attacked in Dagestan // Caucasian knot. 2007. March 30.
• Nikolaev A. They played with the mosque in "Nord-Ost" // Gazeta.Ru. 2007. March 31. (With reference to the "Caucasian Knot" and "Echo of Moscow".)
• Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan denies information about the attack on the mosque // Caucasian knot. 2007. March 31. (With reference to Ekho Moskvy, Gazeta.Ru and Vesti-North Caucasus.)
• In Dagestan, the parishioners injured in the mosque have no claims against the police // Caucasian knot. 2007. May 30.