Gunmen in the Russian Republic of Dagestan today shot dead four policemen at a checkpoint in the town of Buynaksk before entering a sauna where they killed seven female employees.
According to
Bloomberg, after killing the officers at the checkpoint the gunmen, said to number between 10 and 15, then seized the weapons of the dead officers and moved on to the attack at the sauna. Of the 7 women who lost their lives at the sauna, 6 died immediately and the seventh died later in hospital.
The motive for the killings at the sauna is not clear, although the
London Times reports that the women may have been prostitutes and their deaths reflect the Islamist agenda of those fighting to gain independence for Dagestan from Russia.
Officials in Dagestan report that the minivan used by the gunmen in the attack, authorities claim that they know the identities of the leader of the gunmen and several of those under his command, was abandoned close to a summer camp which is near the town where the attacks took place.
There has been considerable violence in recent weeks in the North Caucasus region of Russia where Dagestan and the neighboring republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya can be found. Chechnya has been the main focus of attention in recent years as its fight for independence from Russia, backed by many foreign Islamist fighters, has continued. In addition to police and soldiers coming under attack from separatist fighters, those working for charities and campaigning for human rights have also been targets with 3 such workers being killed within the last month.
One of the most widely remembered incidents linked to separatists in Chechnya is the school siege in September 2004 when Chechen rebels took over 1,100 people hostage, many of them children, at a school in Beslan in the republic of North Ossetia-Alania. Russian security forces eventually brought the siege to an end on its third day. But at least 334 people were left dead, some possibly as a result of the methods the Russian forces used to end the crisis.
However Dagestan has not been immune to violence in the past. Nor has Ingushetia and only on Wednesday that republic's Construction Minister was shot dead in his office. And in June the President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was the target of a car bombing, which left him badly injured.
In Dagestan itself Interior Minister, Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, was killed by a sniper in June. His successor Ali Magomedov has blamed foreign fighters for the violence taking place inside the republic, saying:
Certainly, what is happening now is being exacerbated from outside, beyond the Russian borders. There can be no other explanation. Dagestani people do not need to kill one another
But not all experts agree with Mr Magomedov's assessment, with the
London Times noting that police oppression, official corruption and a lack of jobs are all factors said to be driving young men in to the arms of the separatists.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced in June a new campaign across the North Caucasus region to end the activities of those he described as “terrorist scum”.
