Followers of Sheikh Batal-Khadji tell their version of Surkhakhi shootout

There was no shootout among followers of Sheikh Batal-Khadji in the Ingush village of Surkhakhi, and reports of a split in the Batalkhaji Vird are truthless, members of the Vird assert.

On March 19, two Surkhakhi villagers were wounded – according to preliminary data, as a result of a shootout. Sources said that the conflict was caused by disagreements among followers of Sheikh Batal-Khadji because the Belkhoroevs clan dictates conditions to the whole community, and a brother of one of the wounded parsons tried to oppose them.

"There was no shootout; the men in the street were shelled from a passing car," Umar, a resident of Surkhakhi, told his version to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The Vird members deny that disagreements between individuals can be treated as a split.

"Adherents of radical Islam, Wahhabis, are trying to prove that among the followers of the teachings of Sheikh Batal Khadji there are people who allegedly decided to leave the brotherhood; and this incident is presented as a conflict," said Isa, a resident of the republic.

Bashir, a resident of Nazran, said that members of the Belkhoroev family are friendly with the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, but this does not prevent them from taking their own position on issues important to Ingushetia. Thus, they took part in the oppositional rally in Magas.

The Belkhoroevs have a serious influence in the republic, a former member of the Ingush government has noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported wrote that the great-grandson of Sheikh Batal-Khadji Ibragim Belkhoroev was killed on December 31, 2018, in Nazran.