It is to be recalled that Georgian authorities officially declared a few days ago that a member of a group of Mujahideen recruits was arrested in Lopota Gorge where a fighting occurred with them late August.
It was reported that he was wounded and taken to hospital.
Georgian media said the Interior Ministry revealed the name of the detainee - Akhmed Chatayev, calling him "a member of a sabotage group".
Meanwhile, Kavkaz Center sources categorically denied this claim. According to a KC source, Mr. Chatayev was asked by Georgian authorities to go to Lopota Gorge for negotiations with a group of volunteer recruits.
Georgian authorities asked Mr. Chatayev to help establishing a contact with the Mujahideen and to mediate in the negotiations. Mr. Chatayev agreed and went to Lopota Gorge.
However, the negotiations which lasted for more than a day failed. At some point, a shooting started which turned into a fierce battle. Mr. Chatayev was wounded in a leg almost immediately and was forced to take refuge with the Mujahideen.
It is still not clear why the shooting started.
It is to be recalled in this connection that a representative of CE Mujahideen said recently in an interview with the Chechen-language department of US radio Free Europe that the Caucasus Emirate leadership intended to conduct its own investigation into the incident.
"All necessary information is being gathered now. There should be a thorough investigation into the causes that led to such consequences. Only then we can make an official statement with conclusions and assessments of what happened", a Caucasus Emirate's representative said in an interview with Radio Free Europe.
A few days after the battle in Lopota Gorge, when it became clear that the Georgian government withdrew its military units from there, Mr. Chatayev came of his own to a Georgian police checkpoint. He was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery and had his leg amputated due to gangrene caused wounds.
The KC source said that Georgian authorities are well aware of the situation with Akhmed Chatayev and his participation in the events, as it was at the request of the Georgian authorities that he went to Lopota Gorge.
As for the rest of the group of Mujahideen recruits, the information about them is very scanty. The KC source reported that the remaining Mujahideen had divided into two or three groups and gone by different routes to Dagestan. There is even some evidence suggesting that some of them have already reached their destination. However, this information requires further confirmation.
Meanwhile, a division of Radio Free Europe, Caucasus Echo, reported that an older brother of Dokku Umarov was supposedly in Georgia. According to the station, he called to their office and said that he stayed in Tbilisi and even gave some details of recent events.
The Kavkaz Center editorial staff contacted Akhmed Umarov and asked to comment on this report by Caucasus Echo. Mr. Umarov was astonished with the information spread by Mr. Toriyev, a Caucasus Echo journalist, and reacted very negatively to it:
"Two or three days ago, my friends called me and asked that I contact the radio station. They said that journalists Toriyev and Babitsky wanted to talk to me. I contacted them via Skype. Toriyev spoke to me and said that he wanted to come to Tbilisi together with Babitsky. He asked me if I stayed there. I replied that I stayed in a right place without giving any further details. Specifically, because all intelligence services in the world, friends and enemies are well aware about me and my place of residence. And it's clearly not in Georgia.
It was a private conversation, and I was not going to give any interviews or comments for distribution. They offered some help to Mr. Chatayev, but they say they first needed to reach him.
I advised them not to go anywhere and cause no further trouble, and as for Mr. Chatayev, he does not need their help. According to my information, Georgian authorities provided him with the required medical care. In addition, Georgian authorities are well aware of his role in the case and how he happened to be on the scene of the events.
Therefore Toriyev and Babitsky acted absolutely unscrupulously, spreading without any warning our private conversation. I would especially like to point out to this fact. I do not know for what purpose they did it", concluded Mr. Umarov.
Meanwhile, the events in Lopota Gorge are still one of the main topics on Georgia's political agenda before parliamentary elections on October 1.
Georgian opposition exploits a version that Georgia's president Saakashvili and his inner circle stand behind the events in Lopota Gorge and that they are allegedly provoking intentionally tensions on the eve of the elections.
However, all these versions are baseless and are either a fantasy or an attempt by various political forces to come up with the most profitable version for their own political interests.
Earler, the KC published information on what had really happened in Lopota Gorge citing its own sources.
A squad of recruits, secretly formed by the Mujahideen Command on the border between Dagestan and Georgia, moved to a destination site on the territory of Dagestan to take part in the fight against Russian occupation forces. The squad had no targets in Georgia.
A leakage of information about the group's route occurred at the last stage of the operation. Georgian authorities immediately sent a large number of their special forces backed by helicopters against the unit of the recruits who had no combat experience.
The Georgian command entered into negotiations with the Mujahideen mediated by Akhmed Chatayev and invited them to lay down arms.
During talks which lasted for more than a day, the Mujahideen recruits refused to lay down arms and asked the Georgian government not to aggravate the situation, to free the route for their movement and allow them to leave the Georgian territory. After the talks stalled, a battle began.
The Mujahideen squad did not take any hostages from among the civilian Georgian population. On the contrary, it is because the recruits released five Georgians whom they incidentally met en route that the leakage occurred followed by subsequent tragic events.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
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