The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don will hear a criminal case against 11 individuals accused of preparing terrorist attacks in Daghestan in 2024, the Russian media outlet Kommersant reported.
According to the investigation, the defendants were part of an organised group whose aim was to carry out explosions in the republic. The alleged targets included a military unit in Kizlyar, as well as buildings of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Daghestan.
Investigators believe the group was organised by Yamlikhan Aliev, who they claimed recruited several individuals ‘on religious grounds’. According to law enforcement, the group planned the attacks ‘to intimidate the population’.
Case materials stated that the accused acquired weapons and ammunition and ordered components for explosive devices via online marketplaces. They allegedly assembled improvised explosive devices and hid them in a cache.
According to investigators, FSB officers discovered and neutralised the explosives on the outskirts of the village of Staraya Serebryakovka in the Kizlyar district.
Detentions in connection with the case were first reported in December 2024. At that time, at least five people were detained, but the number later rose to 12. All suspects were placed in pre-trial detention by court order.
According to available data, the defendants are aged between 25 and 35, although it was previously reported that the youngest accused was 19.
According to the investigation, the alleged group was led by 50-year-old Samir Amaev, who had served a 10-year sentence for banditry and was released in 2021. He had been convicted of the murder of Magomed Saypulaev, an imam in the village of Yasnaya Polyana in the Kizlyar district. According to the court’s findings, Amaev and four accomplices shot the imam in his home before fleeing. He had also been convicted of setting fire to a mobile communications tower.
After his release, Amaev was required to report regularly to the police but later stopped doing so and was placed on a wanted list. Amaev and his 25-year-old nephew Magomed Amaev were among those detained. The FSB also stated that 32-year-old Magomed Muridbekov, an imam from the village of Tsvetkovka, was part of the alleged group.
The day before, the Telegram channel Mash Gor, which is considered close to law enforcement, reported the detention of five additional individuals. According to the channel, they were 32-year-old Ali Aliev, 34-year-old Yalimkhan Aliev, 26-year-old Kasum Akuev, 19-year-old Alibek Alibekov, and 29-year-old Murtazali Magomedov. Mash Gor also claimed that the suspects were planning to carry out the attack in the name of the Islamic State.
The FSB stated that all detainees had confessed and said they had allegedly planned to carry out a terrorist attack on yet undefined targets during the New Year holidays.
According to Kommersant, citing a law enforcement source, the village of Serebryakovka, where the suspects were detained, is known as an ‘old centre of Wahhabism (a conservative Islamic movement banned in Russia) in the Kizlyar district’.
During searches of the suspects’ homes in various parts of Daghestan and in the Astrakhan region, security forces reportedly seized weapons, ammunition, improvised explosive devices, and a large quantity of ammonium nitrate — around 20 sacks.
Video recordings were also released showing two detainees confessing on camera to storing components which they said were intended ‘for a detonator’. It is not known under what conditions these statements were made.
The criminal case has been opened under articles relating to preparation for a terrorist act, creation of a terrorist organisation, and illegal manufacture of explosive devices.
By the time the case was referred to court, the number of defendants had been reduced to 11. The reasons for the change remain unclear.
Terrorism has long plagued the North Caucasus, with the deadliest incident in the region in recent years occurring in June 2024 in Daghestan. In the coordinated attack, a group of armed individuals assaulted churches, synagogues, and police officers in Makhachkala and Derbent. Within several hours, 22 people were killed, 16 of whom were police officers. Five attackers were killed at the scene, while four others were arrested and are currently on trial.
