Many Ingush Reject Officials’ Suggestion that ISIS was Behind Attack on Police Post

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 1 --  Ingush and Russian siloviki say that the men who attacked the police guard post in Magas were members of ISIS and offered a photograph of them with an Islamic State  flag, but many Ingush do not believe that and say that the photo was faked to justify further repression (kavkazr.com/a/30354869.html and  kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344232/).

            Ingush activists point out that armed attacks in Ingushetia are rare. Last night’s was only the third in 2019 (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344199/), but officials say that the potential for attacks remains high and that in recent times, more siloviki have suffered than ordinary citizens (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344213/).

            Republic head Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov criticized the siloviki for a lack of vigilance and said they should have been doing more to prevent such attacks especially at times when many people are gathered together and thus present a more tempting target for terrorists (vestikavkaza.ru/news/Siloviki-Ingushetii-razgnevali-Makhmuda-Ali-Kalimatova.html,   gazetaingush.ru/obshchestvo/kalimatov-priznal-slabymi-mery-po-obespecheniyu-bezopasnosti-v -period-novogodnih and  kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344236/).

            To demonstrate their commitment to doing something even after the fact, siloviki units, Ingush and Russian, fanned out across the city and republic conducting searches and attempting to find evidence about those who conducted the attack and anyone who might have assisted them (zamanho.com/?p=16187).

            Meanwhile, hundreds turned out for the funeral of Zelimkhan Kokorkhoyev, the policemen who was killed during the attack on the police post (zamanho.com/?p=16190 and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344228/).  Wounded siloviki and attackers remained hospitalized, not in Ingushetia but in Daghestan (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344238/).