Suspect in Dagestan Chabad Rabbi Shooting Killed by Russia in Firefight
Image by diana markosian
The alleged shooter of a rabbi in southern Russia was killed in a raid by Russian security forces.
Sherif Akhmedov was one of five suspected extremists killed last week in Derbent, in the predominantly Muslim Republic of Dagestan near Chechnya, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement issued Friday, according to international news agencies.
Akhmedov, who has been wanted since 2011 for his alleged involvement in bombings and attacks on police, is believed to be behind the July 24 shooting of Rabbi Artur Ovadia Isakov as the rabbi exited his car and headed into his home.
Authorities said the shooting was likely a terrorist attack by Muslim extremists.
Isakov, 40, was airlifted to Israel for treatment; he was released from the hospital last month. He told JTA in early September that he plans to return to Derbent when it is safe and he is well enough to travel.
Last October, unknown assailants detonated a bomb in the interior yard of Derbent’s main synagogue. Nobody was hurt in the explosion.
Some 2,000 Jews live among a predominantly Muslim population in Dagestan.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
