The leader of Daghestan has ordered all local officials across the Russian North Caucasus republic to create self-defense and vigilante groups to help police bolster security in the violence-torn region.
Magomedsalam Magomedov's anouncement on August 30 came two days after a female suicide bomber killed Daghestan's leading Muslim Sufi cleric, Said Afandi Atsayev, and six others.
Officials said the murder was connected to the religious activities of Atsayev, who was considered a moderate.
The mainly Muslim Daghestan is one of the most volatile republics in Russia's North Caucasus, where Islamic insurgents adhering to the extreme Wahhabi form of Islam regularly attack police, military personnel, and moderate Muslims.
Magomedsalam Magomedov's anouncement on August 30 came two days after a female suicide bomber killed Daghestan's leading Muslim Sufi cleric, Said Afandi Atsayev, and six others.
Officials said the murder was connected to the religious activities of Atsayev, who was considered a moderate.
The mainly Muslim Daghestan is one of the most volatile republics in Russia's North Caucasus, where Islamic insurgents adhering to the extreme Wahhabi form of Islam regularly attack police, military personnel, and moderate Muslims.
