Yarmuk Jamaat - Nalchik Raid

Nalchik Raid

Yarmuk was the main force involved in the botched 2005 Nalchik raid by around 100–200 mostly untrained militants on the capital Nalchik, during which more than 140 people, including 95 alleged insurgents, were killed in 2005. Scores of suspects were detained after the attack, and at least 52 were put on trial. The Jamaat apparently lost most of its members, including the deputy leader Ilyas Gorchkhanov. Survivors retrenched, and in late 2007 were subsumed into a larger fighting unit that would operate not only in Kabardino-Balkaria but also in the neighboring republic of Karachay–Cherkessia after the destruction of its native Karachay Jamaat. The number of attacks attributed to Yarmuk at that time has been relatively low, compromised mostly of targeted assassinations such as that of Anatoly Kyarov. One exception was the shooting of a group of nine Russian hunters in November 2007. The militants systematically kept recruiting new fighters and gathering weapons.