MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti) – One of the militants killed in clashes with security forces in the Khasavyurt region of Dagestan was the leader of a local organized crime group, Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee said on Friday.
A total of four militants were killed in two separate incidents earlier on Friday: Two were killed in a special operation in the suburbs of Khasavyurt, and two more died in a car in a village in the Khasavyurt region of the republic.
One of the militants was identified as Artur Shapiulayev, also known as “emir of the Khasavyurt gang,” the committee said.
A Kalashnikov 5.45-mm calibre rifle, two grenades and explosives were seized, the police said, but did not say from where.
The committee announced on Friday morning that two men, who were part of a group previously involved in crimes including murders, had blockaded themselves in a house in Khasavyurt.