REUTERS.COM: Russia's most senior Islamic cleric warned on Wednesday that civil war could break out in the southern region of Dagestan after a moderate Muslim cleric was killed in a suicide bombing that has heightened religious tensions.
An ethnic Russian, who was both wife and widow of Islamist militants, was named as the bomber who on Tuesday killed Said Atsayev, 74, a prominent Sufi sheikh in the mainly Muslim region who had spoken out against violent Islam.
The murder followed the killing of a moderate Islamic cleric last month in Tatarstan, also a mainly Muslim region, and was carried out as President Vladimir Putin made a rousing call for unity and tolerance to ensure Russia does not fall apart.
"A lot of strength, wisdom and fear of God are needed from the Dagestani people to maintain the situation within the legal framework, avert a bloody civil war and not allow quarrels to split society," Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of Russia's mufti council, said in a statement. » | Steve Gutterman | MOSCOW | Wednesday, August 29, 2012
