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In Lopota incident, known in Georgia as the special operation against an illegal armed group in Lopota (Georgian: შეიარაღებული დაჯგუფების დევნის ოპერაცია ლაფანყურში), Georgian special forces engaged an unidentified paramilitary group of about 17 persons which had allegedly taken several people hostage in a remote Caucasus gorge of Lopota near the border between Georgia and the Russia's Republic of Dagestan. At first the gunmen were widely believed to be Russian Islamist insurgents from Dagestan. During the operation, that began on August 28, 2012, at least 14 people were killed and at least six wounded in a firefight on August 29. Among the victims were 11 members of the mysterious armed group (including at least two Georgian citizens as well as at least five Russian citizens, all of the latter born in the former Chechen–Ingush ASSR). Georgian special service personnel lost three men killed and five injured. On September 8, an injured suspected militant, Akhmed Chatayev, a Russian citizen of Chechen ethnicity holding a refugee status in Austria, was arrested. Chatayev was put on trial for illegal weapon possession but protests his innocence, saying he was actually a negotiator for the government and that he was carrying no arms; he was later acquitted. The operation was officially concluded on October 30. Many details of the clash, the most deadly in Georgia since the 2008 South Ossetia war, still remain unclear. The governments of Georgia and Russia, as well as Russia's Islamic insurgents of the Caucasus Emirate that abortively claimed that the shadowy armed group belonged to their main forces in Dagestan, accused each other of a provocation. The incident was also lambasted by Georgian then-opposition (winner of the October 2012 election) coalition Georgian Dream, who accused Saakashvili's United National Movement government of lying about it and promised that those responsible for the deaths would be punished. ==Background== The incident saw the worst loss of life in Georgia since the brief territorial war with Russia, in which hundreds of people were killed during five days in 2008. Tensions between the two countries have remained strong since the ceasefire, with the Russian military continuing to occupy Georgia's breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the two countries having not resumed diplomatic relations.〔〔(Georgia hunting gunmen after clash at border ), AFP / Gulf Times / 30/8/2012 (archived from (the original ) on 2012-09-01)〕 The deadly clash in Georgia took place against the backdrop of the continued Islamic insurgency in Russia's North Caucasus region, including the Republic of Dagestan, where the situation was reported to be worsening for Russia.〔 In the months preceding the incident, the mounting violence in Dagestan has reached the point of practically daily reports of attacks and armed clashes, with scores of fatalities each month. On the very day of the skirmish in Georgia (August 29, 2012), a local Dagestani member of the Russian Border Guard, apparently recruited by insurgents,〔(Dagestan border guard who shot colleagues could be Wahabi recruit – source ), Interfax, 29 August 2012〕 shot dead two of his fellow border guards and then killed at least five SOBR special purpose police officers from Russia's Altai Republic before being gunned down himself.〔(Border Guard Kills 7 Servicemen in Dagestan ), ''The Moscow Times'', 30 August 2012〕 The day before (August 28), Dagestani rebels attacked a base of Russian Interior Ministry special forces, reportedly seizing its armory building and killing at least two Internal Troops paramilitary soldiers,〔(Special forces base attacked in Dagestan, 2 soldiers killed ), Interfax / Voice of Russia, Aug 28, 2012〕 and an ethnic Russian female suicide bomber killed a prominent Dagestani spiritual leader Sheikh Said Afandi al-Chirkawi and at least six other civilians.〔(Female suicide bomber in Muslim cleric attack identified as actress ), Russia Today, 30 August 2012〕 According to Caucasian Knot tally, during the week of August 27 – September 2, a total of at least 50 people fell victim to armed conflict in the North Caucasus, not including the events in Georgia.〔(On August 27 – September 2, at least 50 persons fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus ), Caucasian Knot, Sep 05 2012〕 The Russian government has repeatedly accused Georgia of offering a safe haven to the insurgents and the Western-backed Georgian government has consistently rejected Russian allegations.〔 According to the BBC correspondent Damien McGuinness, "it was crucial for Georgia to act decisively, as there were fears in Tbilisi that Moscow would use any sign that terrorists from the North Caucasus are operating in the region as a pretext for moving () in to Georgia."〔 Soso Tsintsadze, head of the Diplomatic Academy of Georgia, said a failure to "respond resolutely" would have exposed Georgia to "even more unpleasant developments".〔 According to the website Vestnik Kavkaza, "such a radical decision and even tragic victims seem to be less evil than another explosion in Georgian-Russian relations in the event of the violation of Dagestani section of the border by an armed group from Georgia."〔 Central Asia-Caucasus Institute analysis by Emil Souleimanov concluded: "As the counterinsurgent activities by federal and local armed forces gain momentum in Dagestan, the current epicenter of Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, where dozens of thousands of army and ministry of interior troops have concentrated recently, the pressure will increase on the insurgents to occasionally cross the Russian-Georgian, as well as the Russian-Azerbaijani borders, to secure a temporary safe haven. () Georgia and Azerbaijan would be prompted to either turn a blind eye on the presence of armed militants on their soil and risk a conflict with Moscow, which might use this as a pretext for exerting pressure on the South Caucasian countries with the ultimate risk of military interference, or risk a dangerous conflict with ethnic minorities of Chechen and Dagestani descent populating their borderline areas."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lopota incident」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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