ROSTOV-ON-DON. Aug 14 (Interfax) - Investigators in Dagestan have launched a criminal inquiry after a special operation in village of Orota during which a militant was killed in a standoff with law enforcement officers.
"The Russian Investigative Committee's investigative bodies for Dagestan have opened a criminal case under Articles 317, 222 and 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (an assault on a law enforcement officer; illegal circulation of firearms; and illegal circulation of explosive substances or explosive devices)," a spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee office in Dagestan said on Monday.
According to the inquiry, on August 13 law enforcement officers blocked a local woman's house with a gunman inside. The man ignored calls to surrender weapons and turn himself in, opened fire and was killed by return fire on the spot.
The man was identified as the Khunzakh gang leader Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev. He was wanted by federal authorities for a number of crimes, the spokesperson said.
Gadzhiyev had been wanted since 2014, the National Antiterrorism Committee said earlier. He was the leader of the Khunzakh gang responsible for a number of grave crimes such as the 2014 murder of a mosque imam in the village of Gotsatl, and extorting large sums of money from entrepreneurs.