Residents of Nalchik say that special forces operations are only deepening controversies in the region. The photo shows an attack at police and government facities in Nalchik in 2005.
Photo: Valery Melnikov
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Ex-Guantanamo Bay Inmate Killed in Russia
A former Guantanamo Bay prisoner was killed in a special forces operation in Nalchik, southern Russia, on Wednesday, the Federal Security Service reported. The security agency calls him an extremist and blames on attacks on Nalchik and even bombings in Moscow in 1999. Muslim human right defenders say the security agency is provoking a civil conflict in the region.
Special forces stormed an apartment block in central Nalchik, opening fire and killing two, witnesses say.
Ruslan Odizhev, 34, was shot dead along with another man, Anzor Tengizov, , the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday, adding Mr. Odizhev was “an active member of a regional extremist operation.”
The FSB says its agents have found two guns, several grenades, a large sum of money and maps of the region with the killed. Ruslan Odizhev supposedly took part in a 2005 insurgent attack on police and government facilities in Nalchik, which left 139 people dead.
Ruslan Odizhev was among seven Russian citizens detained by the United States in Afghanistan in 2002 and sent to the Guantanamo Bay prison. The inmates were extradited back to Russia in 2004. Russia released the men after three months of custody.
“Odizhev’s guilt has not been proved,” says Geidar Dzhemal, chair of the Russian Islamic Committee. “But this is the way thing are happening in this country – once a man is dead, you can accuse him of anything.” Mr. Dzhemal believes that the killings could have been prevented. “There are lots of ways of arresting, but Kabardino-Balkaria’s siloviki’s prefer noise, shootouts and corpses.”
The Federal Security Service said Wednesday Ruslan had been on the wanting list for allegedly organizing bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow in 1999, which left hundreds of people dead. The FSB added that Mr. Odizhev had probably come to Nalchik to stage a terrorist attack in this the North Caucasus republic.
Geidar Dzhemal reported that Ruslan Odizhev was not even in Russia during the Moscow bombings. “Everyone who knew him can prove this,” he told Kommersant.
Wednesday’s raid rocked Kabardino-Balkaria as families of the militants killed in the 2005 raid demanded a meeting with the republic’s president and an answer why they were not informed of the cremation of their relatives. Geidar Dzhemal notes that recent events could cause a civil confrontation in the region.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 28, 2007
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