ISIS claims responsibility for brutal Grozny traffic police officer stabbing which shocked Chechnya & enraged Kadryov

The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for a knife attack on police in the Chechen Republic that left one of the officers dead. The two attackers were fatally shot on the spot.

The group made the claim through one of its mouthpieces, the Al-Naba newspaper, on Friday, Reuters reported. However, it has not produced any evidence in support of its involvement in the assault, the agency said.

The incident unfolded in the local capital, Grozny, on Monday. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov reported that two knife-wielding attackers had charged at the officers patrolling traffic in the city’s downtown, killing one of the patrolmen and seriously injuring another.

The men were taken out by responding officers, who were reportedly stationed nearby and swiftly opened fire. Both suspects were said to hail from the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia, and had moved to Chechnya in 2012, where they worked at a bakery.

The relationship between the two neighboring regions has been rocky at times, primarily due to a long-running territorial dispute over an administrative border, which saw Ingushetia erupt in mass protests in 2018 due to what some locals deemed an “unfair” border deal. The agreement was eventually upheld by Russia’s Constitutional Court.

Following the attack, relatives of the two perpetrators, who were brothers, demanded that Chechen authorities prove they were terrorists and hand over their bodies, urging the release of a video of the incident. Kadyrov held his ground, however, slamming the elders for making “irresponsible statements” and labeling the alleged attackers the “enemies of Allah.” On Thursday, the relatives acknowledged the apparent guilt of their compatriots after reviewing CCTV footage of the incident, and extended condolences to the victims of the attack.

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