| Conflict: | Islamic State insurgency in the North Caucasus |
| Partof: | the Chechen–Russian conflict, post-Soviet conflicts, War against the Islamic State and the aftermath of the insurgency in the North Caucasus |
| Date: | 20 December 2017 – present |
| Place: | North Caucasus, Russia (with spillover in other Russian territories) |
| Status: | Ongoing as a hit-and-run campaign |
| Combatant1: | ---- |
| Combatant2: |
Other Islamist groups and lone wolves |
| Units2: | Military of the Islamic StateAmirkhan Gurazhev group (active in Ingushetia) |
| Casualties1: | 42+ killed, 110+ wounded |
| Casualties2: | 198 killed, 5 wounded |
| Casualties4: | 164+ civilians killed, 578+ injured 1 Russian soldier killed by a landmine explosion[2] |
| Combatant3: |
The Islamic State insurgency in the North Caucasus is ongoing terror activity of the Islamic State branch in the North Caucasus after the insurgency of the Caucasus Emirate.
From 2015, during the Insurgency in the North Caucasus, after the series of killings of leaders of the Caucasus Emirate by the Russian army between 2013 and 2014, they led to the weakening of the terrorist organization, leaving several members of IS, veterans of the Syrian Civil War and the Civil War in Iraq, founded a Province of IS in the North Caucasus.[3] On 23 June 2015, IS's spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani accepted these pledges and announced the creation of a new Wilayah, or Province, covering the North Caucasus region. Adnani named Asildarov as the IS leader of this area and called on other militants in the region to follow him.[4] [5]
The first attack of the group occurred on a Russian military base in southern Dagestan on 2 September 2015.[6] In a video also released in September, Asildarov called on IS supporters in the Caucasus to join the fight there, rather than travel to Iraq and Syria.[7]
From 2015 to 2017, the group made other attacks on civilians and the security fources, causing more than 180 deaths.[8] By the end of 2017, a lot of the subversive and terrorist groups operating in North Caucasus were eliminated and the insurgency in the North Caucasus was officially declared over on 19 December of the same year, when FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov announced the final elimination of the insurgent underground in the North Caucasus.[9] [10]
After this, the Caucasus Emirate and the IS Caucasus Province were disbanded, leaving a lot of underground groups to continue the insurgency. From the end of the insurgency in the North Caucasus, one of the most violent terrorist attack perpetrated by the Islamic State in Russia was the mass shooting into a church in Kizlyar on 18 February 2018 causing six deaths (including the perpetrator) and 4 injuries.[11]
On 21 April 2018, in a clash between Russian security forces and IS, nine IS militants were killed in Dagestan.[12]
On 20 August 2018, IS launched attacks in Chechnya, injuring a number of policemen; five suspected IS members were killed.[13]
On 31 December 2018, an apartment block collapse in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. The collapse, claimed by IS-CP but later denied, killed 39 people and injured 17 more.[14] On 24 January 2019, IS attacked a police post, leaving four IS members killed and one policeman injured in Kabardino-Balkaria.[15]
On 1 July 2019, IS claimed responsibility for an attack on a police officer at a checkpoint in the Achkhoy-Martonovsky district of Chechnya, who was stabbed to death. The attacker was shot and killed as he threw a grenade at other officers.[16]
On 20 January 2021, Aslan Byutukayev, also known as Emir Khamzat and Abubakar, a Chechen insurgent commander of the Islamic State, was killed alongside five other IS militants in a special operation launched by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya in Katyr-Yurt, Chechnya; four soldiers were injured.[17] The regime of counter-terrorist operations (CTO), a special legal regime that is applied in Russia in case of terrorist threats, began in Ingushetia from 3 April 2023 due to attacks by IS jihadists against Russian security forces.[18] The clashes resulted in 5 deaths, three Russian soldiers and two jihadists, 11 wounded Russian soldiers and two captured jihadists.[19]
On 2 March 2024, six gunmen and a civilian, alongside with 3 policemen injureds, were killed in a shoot-out with the police in Karabulak in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. The Russian authorities claimed that the men were associated with the Islamic State.[20] [21]
On 22 March 2024, four Tajik IS–K gunmen launched an attack on a concert hall and shopping mall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, with rifles and incendiaries, killing 145 and marking the group's first attack beyond Afghanistan's neighbors.[22] [23]
On 22 April 2024, suspected IS gunmen attacked a Russian police patrol in the town of Karachayevsk in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, killing 2 police officers and wounding a third, in addition to seizing their service weapons (a pistol and rifle) and some ammunition.[24]
On 28 April 2024, suspected IS gunmen attacked a Russian police post in the village of Mara-Ayagy of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, driving up to the police post before throwing explosives and opening fire, killing 2 police officer and wounding at least 4 others. All of the attackers were allegedly killed during the attack.[25]
O 16 June 2024, six Islamic State-linked detainees abducted two Russian prison staff at a detention centre in Rostov. All six assailants were later shot dead by Russian security forces and the two prison staff were freed.[26] [27]
On 23 June 2024, at least five suspected Islamic militants carried out a series of coordinated attacks targeting a church and synagogue in Dagestan, killing 17 police officers and several civilians before being killed.[28] Two sons and a nephew of Magomed Omarov, the head of Dagestan's Sergokalinsky District, were identified as some of the perpetrators.[29]
On 2 July 2019, as part of a series of videos showing supporters and fighters of IS around the world renewing their pledge of allegiance to IS, a video was published from Azerbaijan featuring three fighters armed with Kalashnikov style rifles pledging their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The video was formally released by IS declaring it the Azerbaijan Wilayat.[30]
The rebels have committed extensive war crimes, targeting and murdering civilians on many occasions during the insurgency. [31] But also the Russian government perpetrated war crimes. A short video on Telegram allegedly showed one of the Crocus City attackers being tortured by FSB agents, who cut off his ear and forced him to eat it.[32]
| Year | Killed | Injured | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 | 13 | |
| 2018 | 82 | 26 | |
| 2019 | 31 | 13 | |
| 2020 | 45 | 11 | |
| 2021 | 20 | 10 | |
| 2022 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 14 | 13 | |
| 2024 | 205 | 609 | [33] [34] |
| Total | 404 | 700 |
Azerbaijan