Russian Federation is struggling to quell a simmering Islamic insurgency in the North Caucasus, where some rebels have sworn allegiance to Islamic State.
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A tense calm returned Monday to the area following gun battles between Russian security and Islamic militants.
In an announcement today, the country’s Anti-Terrorist Committee said that the militants had been killed in combat with Russian troops in the province of Ingushetia west of Chechnya.
Russia’s National Antiterror Committee said the militants slain in the shootout were part of an insurgent group whose leaders pledged allegiance earlier this year to Islamic State.
A suspected mastermind of the December 2014 attacks on the Chechen capital city of Grozny, Adam Tagilov, was identified among those killed.
The report comes two weeks after six alleged militants were killed in a special operation by security forces in Nalchik. The raid dented the carefully nurtured image of stability under Chechnya’s strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
The deputy secretary of Russia’s security council, Yevgeny Lukyanov, has estimated that “up to 2,000” Russians have joined the ranks of ISIL so far, adding that many “pretend to be tourists who lost their documents” when they return to Russia.
The three women had allegedly raised some 3,300 dollars through social media networks saying they lacked money to make a trip to Syria. But it gave no further details on what kind of group those it killed came from.
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Police said they would unlikely face any punishment for fraud since it would require Islamic State to file a complaint.
