In Derbent, Dagestan, unidentified
perpetrators killed the imam of a local mosque and his relatives. The
attackers killed priest Kalimulla Ibragimov, his father and brother.
The attack was carried out at about 6:30
a.m. in "Airport" micro-district. The attackers fired their automatic
guns at the Toyota vehicle, in which the men were staying. They died
from wounds on the spot, official spokespeople for the Investigative
Committee of the Russian Federation said.
One of the victims was 49-year-old imam
of one of the city mosques, Kalimulla Ibragimov. Two others were his
relatives - the father and elder brother, NTV said. The police added that the men were going to the mosque for morning prayers.
"The incident is not the first one of
the kind. Attacks against the clergy and religious figures have become a
practice that lasts for years, unfortunately. So far, the mechanism to
protect these people has not been invented," the Director of the Center
for Islamic Studies of the North Caucasus, Ruslan Gireiev, told
Pravda.Ru.
"No one knows which way the wind is
blowing. They usually blame separatists for such crimes. This means that
one doesn't need any investigation. This has been going on for years.
No such crime has been solved," said the expert.
In Dagestan, attacks on the clergy occur frequently. On September 15th,
the imam of the mosque of the village of Kadar was killed in the
Buinaksk region of Dagestan. Two attackers broke into the house of the
priest, shot him dead and escaped.
