Russian Region Says Militants Flocking to Syria

Photo AP Badan militan terbunuh berbaring di atas jalan raya di Gubden, di Rusia Republik Dagestan. Pemimpin wilayah bergolak di Rusia Caucasus Mountains berkata militan Islam tempatan berjuang bersama pemberontak Syria dan seterusnya boleh menjejaskan kestabilan rantau asal mereka apabila mereka kembali. Ramazan Abdulatipov, pemangku presiden wilayah Dagestan, menggesa pihak berkuasa tempatan pada Ahad 21 JULAI, 2013 untuk menghalang "eksport pelampau," dan membuat ia sukar bagi militan meninggalkan Rusia  (Bodies of killed militants lie on a highway at Gubden, in Russian republic of Dagestan. The leader of a restive province in Russia's Caucasus Mountains said that local Islamic militants are fighting alongside Syrian rebels and could further destabilize their home region when they come back. Ramazan Abdulatipov, the acting president of the province of Dagestan, urged local authorities on Sunday, July 21, 2013 to prevent the "export of extremists," and make it hard for militants to leave Russia (think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)

Kahf MASSA - Makhachkala, Rusia (AP) “Rantau Russian berkata militan tertarik ke Syria” Pemimpin wilayah bergolak di Rusia Caucasus Mountains berkata militan Islam tempatan berjuang bersama pemberontak di Syria dan seterusnya boleh menjejaskan kestabilan rantau rumah mereka apabila mereka kembali.

Ramazan Abdulatipov, pemangku presiden wilayah Dagestan, berkata dalam satu kenyataan di laman web Ahad beliau bahawa "eksport pelampau" harus dielakkan dengan menjadikan ia sukar bagi militan meninggalkan Rusia.

"Orang-orang ini pergi ke sana dan mereka akan kembali esok dengan sokongan daripada pelampau antarabangsa dan pertubuhan-pertubuhan pengganas," kata Abdulatipov semasa mesyuarat dengan pegawai-pegawai tempatan hari ini. Andrei Konin, ketua cawangan serantau Perkhidmatan Keselamatan Persekutuan Rusia, KGB utama agensi pengganti, memberitahu mesyuarat itu bahawa kira-kira 200 penduduk Dagestan kini berada di Syria, dan sebahagian daripada mereka yang berjuang bersama pemberontak.

Konin berkata ramai orang dari Dagestan pergi ke Syria untuk kajian tetapi akhirnya dalam barisan pemberontak untuk menyertai apa yang mereka anggap satu jihad atau perang suci. Rusia telah menjadi sekutu utama Presiden Syria Bashar Assad, melindungi dia dari Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu dan sekatan menyediakan dia dengan senjata dalam perang saudara, yang telah membunuh lebih 93,000 orang sejak Mac 2011.

Sesetengah pemerhati telah menyuarakan kebimbangan bahawa militan dari Caucasus yang menyertai pemberontak Syria boleh cuba untuk membalas dendam terhadap Rusia untuk sokongannya terhadap Assad dan cuba untuk menyerang 2014 Sukan Olimpik Musim Sejuk di Sochi.

Pegawai-pegawai Rusia telah berjanji untuk membuat permainan "Sukan Olimpik yang paling selamat dalam sejarah," tetapi pakar-pakar keselamatan memberi amaran bahawa pemberontakan Islam yang telah tersebar ke seluruh Rusia Utara Caucasus selepas 2 perang pemisah di Chechnya boleh mengancam Sochi, yang terletak kira-kira 500 kilometer (300 batu) barat Dagestan.

Awal bulan ini, seorang ketua perang pemberontak Chechen atas menggesa militan untuk mengganggu Permainan Sochi, yang beliau sifatkan sebagai "syaitan tarian pada tulang nenek moyang kami." Dagestan telah menjadi pusat pemberontakan Caucasus, dengan pemberontak pemasangan serangan hampir setiap hari ke atas polis dan pegawai-pegawai lain.

Salah satu daripada 2 adik-beradik Chechen etnik dari Rusia yang dituduh menganjurkan pengeboman Marathon Boston 6 bulan tahun lepas di Dagestan. Penyiasat Rusia telah cuba untuk menentukan sama ada dia mempunyai hubungan dengan pemberontak tempatan.

Photo AP Ramazan Abdulatipov, pemangku presiden wilayah Dagestan, menghadiri majlis pelancaran sebuah monumen kepada penyair Rasul Gamzatov di Moscow. Pemimpin wilayah bergolak di Rusia Caucasus Mountains berkata militan Islam tempatan berjuang bersama pemberontak Syria dan seterusnya boleh menjejaskan kestabilan rantau asal mereka apabila mereka kembali. Abdulatipov menggesa pihak berkuasa tempatan pada Ahad 21 Julai, 2013 untuk menghalang "eksport pelampau," dan membuat ia sukar bagi militan meninggalkan Rusia (Ramazan Abdulatipov, the acting president of the province of Dagestan, attends the unveiling ceremony of a monument to poet Rasul Gamzatov in Moscow. The leader of a restive province in Russia's Caucasus Mountains said that local Islamic militants are fighting alongside Syrian rebels and could further destabilize their home region when they come back. Abdulatipov urged local authorities on Sunday, July 21, 2013 to prevent the "export of extremists," and make it hard for militants to leave Russia (think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)

Russian region says militants flocking to Syria

Kahf MASSA - MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) The leader of a restive province in Russia's Caucasus Mountains says local Islamic militants are fighting alongside rebels in Syria and could further destabilize their home region when they return.

Ramazan Abdulatipov, the acting president of the province of Dagestan, said in remarks posted on his website Sunday that the "export of extremists" should be prevented by making it hard for militants to leave Russia.

"These people go there and they will come back tomorrow with the backing of international extremist and terrorist organizations," Abdulatipov said during a meeting with local officials Friday. Andrei Konin, the head of the regional branch of Russia's Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, told the meeting that about 200 residents of Dagestan are currently in Syria, and some of them are fighting alongside rebels.

Konin said many people from Dagestan go to Syria for studies but end up in rebel ranks to join what they consider a jihad or holy war. Russia has been the key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, protecting him from the United Nations sanctions and providing him with weapons in the civil war, which has killed more than 93,000 people since March 2011.

Some observers have voiced concern that militants from the Caucasus who joined the Syrian rebels could try to take revenge against Russia for its support of Assad and try to strike 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Russian officials have pledged to make the games "the safest Olympics in history," but security experts warn that the Islamist insurgency that has spread across Russia's North Caucasus after two separatist wars in Chechnya could threaten Sochi, located about 500 kilometers (300 miles) west of Dagestan.

Earlier this month, a top Chechen rebel warlord called on militants to disrupt the Sochi Games, which he described as "satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors." Dagestan has become the epicenter of the Caucasus insurgency, with rebels mounting nearly daily attacks on police and other officials.

One of the two ethnic Chechen brothers from Russia who are accused of staging the Boston Marathon bombings spent six months last year in Dagestan. Russian investigators have been trying to determine whether he had contact with local rebels.