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On Sunday, militants launched coordinated attacks on churches and synagogues in two cities in Dagestan, a Muslim-majority republic in southern Russia.
The attackers shot and killed a police officer on guard duty, then set fire to a synagogue, executed a Russian priest, and attacked several police stations, leaving at least 15 police officers dead. The total number of civilian casualties is unknown.
video Posts Footage taken by the Dagestan Ministry of Interior showed gunmen causing chaos in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala, opening fire and forcing people out of their cars.
Following this attack, Four gunmen kill 145 people at Moscow concert hall At least five gunmen were reportedly killed in a shooting in March, including former UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov and mixed martial artist Gadzhimurad Khagirov, who was affiliated with Nurmagomedov's late father Abdulmanap.
The 28-year-old Kagirov is a Master of Sports in freestyle wrestling, an honorary title given to successful athletes in Russia. Turning to professional mixed martial arts After being trained by Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, he went 2-0 professionally at Khabib's Eagle MMA Fight Club, a training facility founded by imprisoned Dagestani oligarch Ziyavdin Magomedov.
Magomedov is known to have financially backed several prominent Dagestan fighters, including Nurmagomedov. The ex-oligarch paid for the former UFC lightweight champion's back surgery in 2017 and covered most of Nurmagomedov's expenses during training camps. He also started a chain of martial arts training facilities called Eagles MMA, which became a home base for some of Russia's top fighters. Khabib Nurmagomedov served as the organization's president for several years, during which his father served as head coach.
In March 2018, Magomedov and his brother, Magomed, were arrested on embezzlement charges in one of the most high-profile prosecutions of a Russian oligarch in recent years. They were convicted in 2022 of embezzling 11 billion rubles. Magomedov denied the charges and claimed his arrest was the result of political persecution.
This is not the first time Eagles MMA has been involved in criminal activity. In 2018, one of the club's executives was arrested in absentia for the attempted murder of sambo fighter Shamil Kuramagomedov, a bronze medalist at the 2017 Russian Combat Sambo Championship. The arrest came after a group of fighters affiliated with Eagles MMA and Magomedov's Summa group attacked Kuramagomedov and I beat him almost to death..
Still, Khagirov's involvement in the terrorist attacks highlights the spread of Islamic extremism to the north, particularly in the martial arts arenas of Dagestan and Ingushetia. In 2014, Dagestan's Deputy Sports Minister Zainal Saravutdinov expressed concern that extremism was spreading in the country's gyms and sports halls.
“Dagestan athletes are being influenced by extremists when they offer prayers at training camps,” he said at the time.
Ironically, Khagirov's former coach, Abdulmanap, was a leading advocate of using martial arts to fight extremism; he dedicated his life to offering Dagestan's youth an alternative to fundamentalism. It was documented in an award-winning feature-length documentary in 2016..
But Abdulmanap's son Khabib has made some worrying choices in the past. After beating Conor McGregor in 2018, Khabib, an Olympic gold medallist in freestyle wrestling, was in Dubai. Suspicion of terrorist financing He is also a suspect in multiple murder cases. He fled Russia and is now wanted by the government.Former UFC champion Opposition to nightclubs and risqué theatre in DagestanThis has led some of his supporters to issue death threats to various actors and rappers performing at these events.
Khabib is arguably one of the most popular Muslim athletes in the world and has been pictured recently. Shaking hands with Donald Trumplater spoke out about the attack on social media.
“My condolences go to the families and friends of the victims. Nurmagomedov wrote on Instagram“May Allah save us all from this situation and grant us calm skies over our heads.”
“Take care of yourself and your loved ones. And everyone, take care of yourself, the children you care for, and the people around you. Educating the soul is more important than educating the body.”
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