The Hindu : International : Ingushetia Interior Minister among victims

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Wednesday, Jun 23, 2004

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International

Ingushetia Interior Minister among victims

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JUNE 22. Over 100 persons were killed and scores injured in a daring rebel raid on Ingushetia, a Russian region neighbouring Chechnya, early Tuesday.

About 200 Chechens armed with grenade and rocket launchers and machine-guns attacked the Interior Ministry, a police headquarters, and the quarters of a border guard detachment in Ingushetia's biggest town of Nazran. The towns of Karbulak and Sleptsovsk also came under attack as the rebels made an attempt to break through to the capital Magas, but were stopped.

Moscow's chief representative in the region, Vladimir Yakovlev, said 47 Interior Ministry officers and policemen were killed in the attacks, including Ingushetia's Acting Interior Minister, Abukar Kostoyev, the Nazran city prosecutor and other officials. A local security service spokesman said the rebels had killed an even bigger number of civilians, but could not give the figure.

The Chechens launched their attack at about 10.30 p.m. on Monday and withdrew about 4.00 a.m. on Tuesday, leaving militants dead, after Russian troops and armour were rushed to the region. Local television showed government buildings and police headquarters gutted by fire. The military have set up a field hospital in Nazran to care for the wounded, while Ingushetia's President, Marat Zyazikov, declared a three-day mourning for the victims of the attack.

It was the biggest rebel incursion into Ingushetia since October 2002, when a band of fighters attacked Russian forces in the region killing 17 servicemen. The attack came a day after Chechnya's separatist president Aslan Maskhadov said in an interview that rebels were preparing to undertake new offensives.

"We are planning to change tactics. Before, we concentrated our efforts on acts of sabotage, but soon we are planning to start active military actions," he told Radio Liberty on Sunday.

AP reports:

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, ordered authorities ``to find and destroy'' the raiders, said officials. ``Those who can be caught must be taken alive and brought to trial,'' Mr. Putin told a Kremlin meeting of police and security officials.

The Ingush President, Murat Zyazikov, told Interfax news agency that a large number of weapons and ammunition were missing from police depots.

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