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The names of two residents of Azerbaijani settlement Nardaran, killed during clashes between Islamists and the police after the Azerbaijani theologian Taleh Bagirzade was detained, have been revealed. They were Faraim Zeynalabdin oglu and Abbas Huseyn, from Bagirzade’s close surroundings. The press services of the Interior Ministry and Prosecutor General’s Office refuse revealing the names of the killed police officers. They only state that they were killed as they were carrying out their professional duties, Haqqin.az reports.

Meanwhile, the Islamists are preparing protests. According to the website, tensions rise in Nardaran. Locals have blocked all the entrances to the settlement. At the moment, the Islamists have gathered in the central square crooning mournful songs in Islam martyrs’ honour. Subdivisions of Internal Troops of the ministry of home affairs have also been deployed to the settlement.

Islamic extremists attacked the camera operator of the Public TV channel ITV, beat the journalist and broke his camera.
Sabunchi district police, where the detained Islamists were taken from Nardaran, has taken up enhanced security measures. The police have reportedly cordoned the third clinical hospital, where those injured during the special operation were taken. The police are checking the doctors and patients, according to Vesti.az.

Minval.az reports that Bagirzade’s supporters threaten to throw a hand grenade into the police station he is held in. “This time, we will kill them all, including the chief, Inshallah!” Gabil Hamidov, one of the theologian’s supporters, wrote on Facebook.

One of the witnesses of the Islamists’ detention told the website that the law enforcement officers entered into the settlement in a garbage truck. “The residents would not let them in if they arrived in their vehicles. They came in a vehicle for garbage and furniture. We prayed in the shrine and came out at hearing the shots. They shot burst fire. We again went inside. They entered after us without stopping the fire. Using obscene language, they started to beat us with batons. We went to defend Haji Taleh so hat no one could touch him. Locals started to gather at the place, and then they were afraid. They used force to catch Haji Taleh and got into the car shooting around. Three people were killed and 15 got injuries. They took some 20 people with them,” the eyewitness says.
Hundreds of people, gathered in Nardaran centre, condemned the police acts today, which had led to bloodshed in the settlement. Locals expressed their anger and lack of understanding of the police aggression as it had broken into the shrine during prayer, firing and detaining the praying people.

“The police were the first to shoot at unarmed people trying to frighten them. They were the first to kill those who tried to block Taleh Bagirzade’s arrest,” one of the protesters told Turan agency’s journalist.

The protesters demand an immediate release of all those arrested, 14 of them in total, according to official information. “We gave 24 hours to the authorities. The protests will go on if they fail to free them,” another participant said.

Meanwhile, Trend agency reports that Major General Elchin Guliyev, the head of the Antiterrorist Centre of the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan, was dismissed.

Speaking at a reception of an Iranian delegation led by the Education Minister Ali Asghar Fani, the chairman of the Caucasus Muslim Board, Allahshukur Pashazade, said that interreligious relations are normal in Azerbaijan. “We have successfully settled the question of the relations between different religious groups in Azerbaijan. There is no religious conflict in Azerbaijan,” he said as cited by APA.

In addition, Haqqin.az reports that Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev said during the 12th ISESCO General Conference in Baku that Azerbaijan fights against Islamophobia and accused “some Western circles” of connecting Islam to terrorism. Moreover, Aliyev said the propaganda of Islamic culture abroad is very important for Azerbaijan, and also accused the Armenian side of abolishing mosques.

Remarkably, mosques have been pulled down in Azerbaijan since 2010. The Supreme court of Azerbaijan ruled to demolish the mosque Fatimeyi Zahra in the settlement Yeni Gunashli and to cease the religious community’s activities in that territory.  The mosque on the Oil Rocks and Our Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque were also pulled down in Baku. The first case a mosque was pulled down during Azerbaijan’s independence took place in the settlement Guneshli, Baku suburb, back in 2000.