[2][10] On 26 July 2007, a massive security operation was launched in Ingushetia, sparked by a series of attacks[11] including an assassination attempt on President Murat Zyazikov five days earlier.

At the center of this controversy was the deeply unpopular President Murat Zyazikov, a former KGB general who was criticized both by human rights groups and by some in the Russian government.

On 30 October 2008, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree to remove Zyazikov from office and replace him with Lieutenant Colonel Yunus-bek Yevkurov.

According to police sources, nearly 50 people (including 27 rebels, 18 policemen and two civilians) died in the almost daily clashes in this small republic (less than 500,000 inhabitants) in the first three months of 2009.

[19] Ingush President Yevkurov was seriously wounded in a suicide bomb attack on 22 June,[18] and Construction Minister Ruslan Amerkhanov was shot dead in his office in August.