Gang leaders killed in Dagestan had sworn allegiance to IS, says authority

MOSCOW, April 25./TASS/. Two gunmen neutralized in a special operation in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on April 24 had earlier sworn allegiance to Islamic State, the information center of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee told Tass on Saturday.

Two gunmen who offered resistance to law enforcement officers were killed during a special operation in Dagestan on Friday.

One of them has been identified as Arsanali Kambulatov, born in 1984, who from August 2013 led a Makhachkala gang, operating in Dagestan. He was the mastermind of a suicide bomb blast in Makhachkala in March 2013 as well as a blast near the office of court marshals in May 2013, the Anti-Terrorism Committee reported, adding that he was also behind the killings of residents of Agachaul settlement in 2013-2014.

The second man was identified as Mugutdin Mazanov, born in 1994, the head of the so-called Caspian gang. He is said to have been involved in a number of crimes, including numerous armed attacks on police and extortion of large sums of money from entrepreneurs.

Their killing was a telling blow to gangs operating in Dagestan, Anti-Terrorism Committee sources said.