Rostov-on-Don, (Russia): Chechen security
forces on Friday killed eight militants in a two-hour gunbattle in
the Russian province's south, authorities said.
Chechen police spokesman Magomed Yevloyev said the
operation targeted about 20 insurgents in mountainous
Nozhai-Yurt district.
Forces were searching for a dozen other gunmen, Chechen
President Ramzan Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov has claimed Chechen insurgents are on their last
legs nearly a decade after the end of major fighting in two
devastating separatist wars. But a recent wave of bombings and
other attacks has undermined his claims and alarmed the
Kremlin.
Insurgent violence also is high in neighbouring republics
of the Russian Caucasus.
In Kabardino-Balkaria on Friday, insurgents travelling in a
car opened fire on police when they were stopped for a
document check, injuring three, local officials said. Police
eventually caught up with the three suspects, surrounded their
car, and were attempting to negotiate an end to the ordeal,
the local Interior Ministry said.
In Dagestan, the easternmost region of the North
Caucasus, one person died when a car exploded late yesterday
outside a district police station in the capital, Makhachkala.
The province's Interior Ministry spokesman Mark
Tolchinsky told The Associated Press that investigators
believe an explosive device on the back seat detonated
prematurely.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, October 02, 2009, 22:31