Shariat organization succeeds to Dzhennet rebel group

The Dagestani Jamaats "Shariat" is likely to be a new name of Rasul Makasharipov's terrorist group Dzhennet, a top-ranking official at the Dagestani Interior Ministry told the Caucasian Knot correspondent. The media reported earlier that the Shariat organization claimed responsibility for a series of terror attacks against officers of Dagestani security agencies in December 2004. "All members of the Dzhennet group have been destroyed, and only its leader Rasul Makasharipov is free. So he is likely to have formed a new group with old tasks: terror attacks against officers of the Interior Ministry and the FSB (Federal Security Service), prosecutors, and court officials in Dagestan," the source said.

Rasul Makasharipov, nicknamed Muslim, is a 33-year-old native of Dagestan's Tsumadinsky district. He is a former interpreter of notorious field commander Khattab. In 1997, the father expelled him from the house, and the young man moved to Chechnya. Then Makasharipov appeared in Dagestan again and organized the Dzhennet group.

Rebels under the command of Rasul Makasharipov have been killing policemen, judges and prosecutors in Dagestan since 2002. The number of their victims has already reached 30 people.