Two people were injured near Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s residence in Grozny, Russia in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
On Sunday, June 23, police stopped a car in Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in Russia’s North Caucasus. After being asked for identification, the driver attacked the two police officers with a knife, according to Sputnik news agency, which is close to the Kremlin.
A passing off-duty member of the National Guard who saw the attack came to the aid of the police, the report said.
The National Guard member and one traffic officer were injured in the attack. The injured police officer was taken to the hospital in a serious but not life-threatening condition.
The attacker was shot dead at the scene. According to police he was a Chechen born in 1997.
Police said in a statement that the details of the attack were still being established.
ISIS on Sunday issued a statement claiming responsibility, attributing the attack to its Caucasus Province.
ISIS named the attacker as Abdullah al-Shishani, but the claim contained several inaccuracies. The statement said he had “managed to reach the door of the presidential headquarters of tyrant Ramzan Kadyrov,” and had injured several people with a “machine gun.”
While a firearm was found in the attacker’s car, he had only used a knife in the attack, according to police. The incident occurred near Kadyrov’s residence, but it was not as close as ISIS claimed and it was unclear if he was the intended target.
A day earlier, two alleged ISIS militants who had been planning attacks were killed in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan. The two men opened fire on security forces after their car was stopped, and officers returned fire, killing the attackers, Russian state news agency Tass reported.
Islamic State’s Caucasus province was announced in June 2015 by then ISIS spokesperson Abu Mohammed al-Adani. It was mainly formed by defectors from the al-Qaeda linked Islamic Emirates of the Caucasus. Since 2015 ISIS has claimed responsibility for various attacks carried out by its Caucasus province on security forces and civilians, while police have carried out several operations against claimed militants.
In May 2018, three people were shot and killed at a church in Chechnya in an attack claimed by ISIS. A few months later in August, multiple police were injured in several linked attacks in Gronzy, which ISIS said it was behind.