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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Two Servicemen Killed, Seven Wounded in Caucasus |
| 2012-05-12 |
| [An Nahar] Two Russian soldiers died in a shootout with Death Eaters in the Caucasus region of Dagestan ...a normally inoffensive Caucasus republiccurrently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca.. where violence shows no sign of easing, police said Friday. The shootout, which also left four servicemen and three coppers maimed, took place just outside the village of Tsetkovka in the Caspian Sea region on Thursday, regional police said. "As a result of the fighting, two servicemen died of gunshot wounds," police said in a statement. Two servicemen and three coppers were hospitalized in the Dagestani town of Kizlyar, while another two servicemen were hospitalized in Grozny in next-door Chechnya. Citing preliminary information, a front man for Dagestani interior ministry told Agence La Belle France Presse that one of the Death Eaters had been killed in the shootout. He declined to elaborate. Dagestan experiences almost daily shootings and bombings that officials blame on small-time Mister Bigs and Islamists with links to Chechnya, where the Kremlin fought two wars over the past 20 years. Fuelled by endemic poverty and corruption, the Death Eaters are seeking to establish an independent Islamic state across the northern Caucasus. |
| Posted by:Fred |