MAKHACHKALA, December 30. /TASS/. A counter-terrorism operation was introduced in some localities of Russia’s North Caucasian republic of Dagestan on Wednesday, the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee’s republican department has told TASS.
"At 6.00 p.m. Moscow time (3.00 p.m. GMT) the counter-terrorism regime was introduced in Dagestan’s Suleiman-Stal region, in three villages of the Khiva region (Zaza, Kontsil and Chilikar) as well as in the area near the village of Mekhtikent and the Cheren mountain pass with the aim to locate fugitives," he said.
A source at Dagestan’s law enforcement agencies told TASS that the counter-terrorism operation had been launched to find the militants responsible for the attack on tourists in Derbent, one of the country’s oldest towns that celebrated its 2,000th anniversary this year.
On Tuesday night, a tourist group was attacked while sightseeing on the view platform of the Naryn-Kala fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The gunmen opened small arms fire from a nearby wooded area, killing one and injuring another eleven.