Chechen leader Ramazan Kadyrov said that Caucasus Emirate leader Doku Umarov had died of wounds received during security operations two months ago in Chechnya. Kadryov also claimed to have years ago personally killed four brothers of Aslambek Vadalov, a possible contender to replace Umarov. The head of the Russian Orthodox church called for religious literacy as an “intellectual rebuff” to the “pseudo-religious arguments” of Islamist extremists seeking recruits. The Caucasus Emirate claimed that it attacked a police patrol on Jan. 26 in the Babayurtovsky region of Dagestan. Special operations forces in Kyrgyzstan recently arrested three alleged members of the banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
