Nalchik/Agency Caucasus – President Arsen Kanokov of Kabardino-Balkaria deemed armed attacks on both the republican administration and the police as the declaration of a war against the whole state organization.
Kanokov pressed for using efficient means of battle against terrorism after he heard his Interior Minister Yuri Topmach warn at a security conference in Nalchik on July 15 against the alarming increase in the terrorist attacks. "The terrorist attacks that we are nowadays faced up with are in fact the sign of a war openly launched against the state. It has become an everyday phenomena that security forces are either injured or killed in attacks. There is a growing social fear and insecurity. What is most disconcerting is, however, that we cannot properly respond to the terrorist attacks."
Tomchak said that eight people were arrested in the first half of the year for helping illegal, criminal organizations. He also warned that the nation was suffering from stressful conditions of living.
In the first six months of this year, 199 firearms, six machine pistols, nine revolvers, over 14 000 bullets and many other types of explosives were seized, Tomchak said and stressed the need to take concrete action and to adopt newer approaches if Kabardino-Balkaria wanted to eradicate terrorism successfully.
Aleksandr Merkulov, Russia’s Chief Presidential Inspector for Kabardino-Balkaria, called for plain admission of the fact that "those who take their guns out to the street are serious criminals, not little children who lost their way."
He argued that neither religious authorities nor university professors were able to steer the public away from religious fundamentalism. He also underlined the need to cut financial supply to illegal, criminal organizations.
A mass demonstration against terrorism is likely to be held in Nalchik today.
KU/ÖZ/FT
