Top cop, bodyguards gunned down in Russia

AP ^ | 2.2.05

[ambrose]

Wednesday, February 2, 2005 · Last updated 1:38 p.m. PT

Top cop, bodyguards gunned down in Russia

By ARSEN MOLLAYEV

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- A top-ranking regional police officer and three bodyguards were gunned down in southern Russia late Wednesday, police said. The assassination was the latest attack in the troubled region bordering war-wracked Chechnya.

Maj. Gen. Magomed Omarov, a deputy interior minister for Dagestan, was driving home from work with bodyguards driving behind him in a second car when unknown assailants fired on the cars, said Abdul Musayev, a spokesman for the Dagestan Interior Ministry.

Omarov and his bodyguards all died at the scene, near the center of the regional capital, Makhachkala, Musayev said. Another bodyguard was wounded.

Dagestan, an ethnically diverse region on the western shores of the Caspian Sea, has seen a steady stream of shootings, bombings and other violence, some spilling over from neighboring Chechnya to the west and some committed by local criminal gangs.

It was the second time Omarov had been attacked in the past two years, the Interfax news agency reported. In May 2003, the car Omarov was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb in the center of Makhachkala. Omarov suffered only a concussion in the attack.

Earlier this month, five gunmen held off dozens of heavily armed security forces for more than 15 hours at a house on the outskirts of Makhachkala, 1,000 miles south of Moscow. The standoff ended with a tank razing the house. All five gunmen were killed.

Dagestan officials said the gunmen had been preparing a major terror attack, similar to the one in Beslan, the city in southern Russia where more than 330 people died in a school hostage-taking last September.

[Lurker]

It's a quagmire!

And it's all Bushes fault, too!

L

[jb6]

Ahh, the TROP keeps marching on, fighting like the brave heroes they are.

[taxesareforever]

That's what could be happening in this country if Bush hadn't laid the law down.

[bd476]

Story also posted here yesterday within a related thread:

North Caucasus Official Shot Dead

[ambrose]

we should be thankful that Mexicans are not Muslims...

[bd476]

Update on the Dagastan assassination from yesterday's North Caucasus Official Shot Dead

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping

[Grzegorz 246]

"Omarov and his bodyguards all died at the scene, near the center of the regional capital, Makhachkala, Musayev said."

Near the center of the capital ? Russians completely lost control.

[Route101]

Whole area is run by the Russian Mafia.......

[Velveeta]

"we should be thankful that Mexicans are not Muslims..."

---

Islam Gains Toehold in Mexico's Zapatista Country
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=7425634

[Destro]

I am sure that makes you happy to here of Miuslim victories against the Russians.

[Grzegorz 246]

You are right.

[TChris]

The standoff ended with a tank razing the house. All five gunmen were killed.

Now that's an appropriate response to barricaded killers!

[verity]

Rumsfeld offers to resign. ;~)

[Destro]

Exactly - you Euros makes common cause with jihadists.

[Grzegorz 246]

Exactly.

[PhilDragoo]

Thank you for the update.

Yet Russia continues to aid Iran and Syria, premier sponsors of Islamist terrorism.

The nerve of the ingrateful Islamist terrorists knows no bounds.

[Lukasz]

Near the center of the capital ? Russians completely lost control.

Only 6% of the Dagestan’s population is Russian. Rest are several Muslim nations/tribes. Republic is ruled by local clan (mafia) supported by Moscow. They have there some autonomy in eternal policy, which they using of course to become richer. There is more clans in Dagestan and of course they don’t like themselves too much. Like in whole Caucasus area also in Dagestan is the biggest in Russia poverty, unemployment and this republic is overpopulated because of many refuges. Except of clans they have there also many radical Muslims. Really nice mess, I read recently about North Caucasus including Dagestan. I think that only one thing what keeps Russians there (except of imperial ambitions) is Caspian oil.

[Lukasz]

I am sure that makes you happy to here of Miuslim victories against the Russians.

Russians? This is case between Muslims. Radical Muslims fighting against Muslim collaborators. For me both may kill each other. I would like to see Russians fighting with terrorists but only terrorists not every civilian like it used to be in Chechnya. If Americans would do the same in Iraq what Russians doing in Chechnya my attitude towards Iraqi operation would be slightly different.