October 13, 2005
ITAR-TASS
Nalchik, 13 October: Militants from the so-called Jamaat Yarmuk took part in a raid against a number of administrative facilities in Nalchik, President of Kabarda-Balkaria Arsen Konakov has told ITAR-TASS today.
"About 150 bandits from this religious extremist group comprising both local Wahhabists and those who come from other areas, including Chechnya," he noted.
Jamaat Yarmuk was set up by one of field commander Ruslan Gelayev's comrades-in-arms, Muslim Atayev, who was known as Seyfullah. This group is thought to have been involved in blasts of residential buildings in Moscow in 1999, attacks against the Ingush village of Galashki in 2002 and the Kabarda-Balkaria Drug Control Directorate in December 2004.
In January 2005 Jamaat Yarmuk called for a jihad in the North Caucasus.
Seyfullah was killed in the course of a special operation in Nalchik in January this year, and he was replaced by Anzor Astemirov who was killed today on the outskirts of Nalchik together with other bandits.
According to the president of the Russian Institute for religion and politics, Aleksandr Ignatenko, Jamaat Yarmuk is one of the cells of the international terrorist network which adheres to Wahhabism. Terrorist units are set up according to the following principle: a core of military commanders and ulems (experts in Wahhabi teachings) among which a Jamaat (community) is formed.
According to him: "Not only foreigners but also local people from among Muslims belong to these groups. They are told to re-convert to Islam and accept Wahhabism. The unit has not only a command but also a Shari'ah court whose task is to give religious interpretation to Jamaat actions."
(Description of Source: Moscow ITAR-TASS in Russian -- main government information agency)