Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Russian republic of Dagestan
has declared August 29 a
day of mourning for seven Muslim clerics killed yesterday in a suicide bombing
in the village of
Chirkey. One of the
spiritual leaders of the local Sufi community, Sheikh Said Afandi al Chirkavi,
and six other collaborators died in the suicide attack, carried out by a woman.
The President of Dagestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov, has expressed his
condolences to family and friends of the victims and declared a day of national
mourning.
According to investigators, the kamikaze - wearing a belt packed with
explosives - passing as a faithful, entered the Sheikh's house where she
detonated her bomb. The Interior Ministry has already identified the woman as
Aminat Kurbanov, a resident of Makhachkala, capital
of Dagestan.
Al Chirkavi was a well known figures in the diverse Caucasian reality, consumed
by infighting between the increasingly powerful Salafis and Sufis, associated
with their mystical tradition, represented by the Sheikh who was highly
respected by the people.
After the so-called "pacification" of Chechnya,
Dagestan has become the most unstable among the republics of the Russian
Caucasus, where Moscow
continues to battle Islamist rebels fighting for the creation of an emirate. In
recent years, a bombing campaign has been launched against religious officials,
in response to their explicit criticism of a more radical Islam, denounced in local
mosques, at the request of the Kremlin, to discourage separatists.
According to Grigory Shvedov, editor of the website "Caucasian Knot",
the attack on al Chirkavi, "who had followers among state officials and
local businessman," is a direct warning "to all Islam supported by the
state". Alexei Malashenko, an expert on Islam for the Moscow Carnegie Centre, says
the future of dialogue initiated with difficulty "between traditional
Islam and the moderate wing of the Salafi" is now at stake. "For now -
said the expert talking to the site Gazeta ru - a peaceful development of this
dialogue appears impossible."