Seven Islamist militants suspected in yesterday’s bomb attack on a Makhachkala restaurant were killed in a shootout with security forces. Among those killed were Makhmud Aliyev, the recently named head of the Makhachkala cell, and Zaira Aliyeva, the widow of a previously killed militant, who may have been preparing to conduct a suicide bombing. A video purporting to indicate that Dagestan’s former First Deputy Prime Minister Rizvan Kurbanov is linked to the Caucasus insurgency was released on Jan. 14.
