12 Russian troops killed in Chechnya

[American Patriot]

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-6-2004_pg7_9


VLADIKAVKAZ: Twelve Russian soldiers and police officers were killed in rebel attacks and landmine explosions in Chechnya over the past day, an official in the Moscow-backed Chechen administration said on Sunday.

Seven of the soldiers died and nine others were injured in 20 rebel attacks on federal positions over the previous 24 hours, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In Achkhoi-Martan, southwest of Grozny, the Chechen capital, two soldiers were killed and seven wounded in a shootout with rebels who raided the local police station and set free all those detained. It was the second such raid in three days, the official said.

In Grozny, two police offices were shot and killed Saturday when the occupants of a passing car opened fire on them with automatic weapons. Another police officer was killed and one wounded when their car struck a land mine in the capital, the official said.

Russian forces used artillery to barrage suspected rebel camps in Chechnya’s forested mountains, and Russian forces detained at least 220 residents since Saturday on suspicion of rebel links.

[Dennis G]

RIP

[Undo]

RIP

[Trident-za]

RIP.

[SwissGrenadier]

rip

[Aussie E]

from http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,9919187,00.html

Attackers seize official buildings
From correspondents in Vladikavkaz, Russia
June 22, 2004
ASSAILANTS armed with grenade and rocket-launchers have seized the Interior Ministry headquarters in Ingushetia, a Russian region bordering warring Chechnya.

Police buildings in Ordzhonikidzevskaya and in Karabulak had also been seized by other attackers, a ministry official said today.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The official said it was not immediately clear who the attackers were.

Fighting from the four-year-old Chechen war has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia.

[Sayeret]

RIP

[Tengu]

RIP

[Skullknight]

On average 5 Russian soldiers are killed in Chechnya every day. Poor guys.

[RomanS]

Thank you all !

[RomanS]

On average 5 Russian soldiers are killed in Chechnya every day. Poor guys.
Bull **** !

[Skullknight]

On average 5 Russian soldiers are killed in Chechnya every day. Poor guys.
Bull **** !How is that BS? Multiple leaked Kremlin reports reaffirm this annually.

[Undo]

On average 5 Russian soldiers are killed in Chechnya every day. Poor guys.
Bull **** !How is that BS? Multiple leaked Kremlin reports reaffirm this annually.

Source?

[anonymous individual]

RIP

I have been following on the yahoo news about Chechnya for awhile now. I am pretty sure that from 2003-dec to 2004-june the death per day ratio is less than 5.

[seruriermarshal]

Sad message :

REGIMENTAL PRAYER

Almighty, merciful, and loving Father,
you are the one who hears all our prayers and grants our petitions.

We ask you to remember, as we do,
the tremendous sacrifice made by those who went before us.
They have given their lives so that we might live and breathe freely.
We ask you to receive them into your hands.

Father, give us the strength and wisdom to learn from their example,
to uphold freedom and life at home and around the world.

Keep us vigilant as we guard the frontiers of freedom.

Give our leaders the wisdom and the strength to lead well.

Grant all of us courage and confidence.
Be, for all of us, troopers, a wise counsel in keeping peace
and a strong shield for us against our enemies.
Oh heavenly Father, give us the determination
that the peace and freedom won at such a high price be lasting!

Father, hold all of the troopers in the palm of your almighty hand
and protect them in the shadow of your wings.

Amen.


:(

[OB Kenobi]

On average 5 Russian soldiers are killed in Chechnya every day. Poor guys.
Bull **** !How is that BS? Multiple leaked Kremlin reports reaffirm this annually.

The Kremlin doesn't leak reports.

[Midav]

RIP

[Kilgor]

Ive heard the figure of 5-6 daily

of course it could be BS

but not all is well there, but its a important fight against islamofacism

[Wilco]

"When he reaches the gates of Heaven,
to Saint Peter he will tell,
'One more soldier reporting, sir...
I've served my time in hell"


RIP

[ßå$tĮТHÏ¿ð]

RIP :(

[J-10]

22 Killed in Attacks on Russia Government
At Least 22 Killed, Dozens Wounded As Militants Attack Russian Government Offices Near Chechnya

The Associated Press

CHERMEN, Russia June 21, 2004 — Heavily-armed militants launched coordinated attacks against police headquarters, border checkpoints and government offices in a Russian region bordering warring Chechnya, authorities said Tuesday. At least 22 people were killed, including three high-ranking officials, and dozens were wounded.
The fighters seized the Interior Ministry in Nazran, the largest city in Ingushetia, and attacked the border guards' headquarters there as well as in two villages near Chechnya shortly before midnight Monday, emergency officials said.

The Ingush medical center said that 59 injured people were hospitalized and 16 of them had died. The ITAR-Tass news agency, citing law enforcement officials, said five of the dead were policemen.

Witnesses reported at least six more people dead in an attack on a border guards' post on the outskirts of Nazran.

"There are a lot of casualties, both from the law enforcement side and among civilians," the Interfax news agency quoted Ingush President Murat Zyazikov as saying.

An official from the Ingush Interior Ministry said it was not immediately clear who the attackers were, but said some of them were shouting "Allahu akhbar" a frequent cry of Chechnya's separatist rebels as their insurgency increasingly comes under the influence of radical Islam. Police estimated that up to 100 militants, armed with grenade- and rocket-launchers, were involved in the assaults.

Thousands of Russian anti-terrorist special forces headed into Nazran, through the border village of Chermen in neighboring North Ossetia, in a long column of armored personnel carriers and army trucks shortly after dawn Tuesday. Inside the city, firefighters fought blazes at the Interior Ministry and its weapons storehouse, as residents cowered in their homes.

Fighting from the Chechen war has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia, highlighting the Russian military's ineffectiveness against the rebels despite having heavier weapons and far superior manpower. The last major Ingush incursion was in October 2002, when fighters killed 17 Russian troops.

The latest attack comes after recent statements by separatist leaders indicating plans to step up military actions outside of Chechnya.

"We are planning to change tactics. Before, we concentrated our efforts on acts of sabotage, but soon we are planing to start active military actions," Chechnya's separatist president Aslan Maskhadov said in an interview on Radio Liberty last week.

A three-man crew from Russia's NTV television came upon some of the presumed attackers, wearing masks and speaking accented Russian, at a border crossing as the crew tried to enter Nazran from North Ossetia.

"Out of the dark, a voice says 'Stop, put your hands on the hood,' said NTV correspondent Maxim Berezin. "A man carrying an automatic weapon came up. 'Who are you?'"

"Then he said, 'Say that we are the Martyr's Brigade. ...We have shot everyone here. Go and announce that.'"

Berezin saw the bodies of at least six men in camouflage the uniform of security service members lying outside a minivan.

There was heavy fighting in Karabulak, where the militants attacked a border guard and customs post and a police station, and the assailants seized a police checkpoint in the village of Yandare, Ingush emergency officials said.

Acting Ingush Interior Minister Abukar Kostoyev was wounded in the first minutes of the fighting in Nazran and was taken to Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia, where he died, the Ingush Interior Ministry official said. A convoy of three ambulances later could be seen speeding into Vladikavkaz from Ingushetia.

Ingush emergency officials said that the health minister and a deputy interior minister had also been killed in the fighting in Nazran, while Interfax said a city prosecutor and a district prosecutor had died as well.

Police at the Chermen checkpoint on the North Ossetian border said that a 10-vehicle Russian military convoy had been ambushed en route to Nazran. Three vehicles from the column were later seen returning to Vladikavkaz, the North Ossetian capital, carrying an unclear number of casualties.

By early Tuesday, Russian forces had fought off the rebels attacking the border guards' headquarters in Nazran, Ingush emergency officials said.

As dawn broke, there was still sporadic shooting in the city and in Karabulak, but the fighters were stealing away.

Although Chechnya is a largely Muslim region in overwhelmingly Christian Russia, the first of Chechnya's two wars was an essentially secular conflict. However, after Russian troops pulled out when Chechen rebels fought them to a standstill, the separatists increasingly took on a specifically Islamic mantle.

Monday's fighting came as Russian and Moscow-backed Chechen officials prepared for an August election to replace Kremlin-backed Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a bomb attack last month. The Kremlin has put forward its candidate, Chechen Interior Minister Alu Alkhanov.

Some Russians noted that the attacks on Ingushetia came on the eve of June 22 the 63rd anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, a date engraved in Russians' minds.

From (http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040621_2045.html)

Rip. Chechnya's separatist rebels always make trouble.

[rob]

RIP

[MEGR]

RIP.

[vryhpyammoadded]

And on it goes…
Condolences to the friends and families.

[Liquid]

Sorry for the russians but this is geting extremly worrying

A few weeks ago Mashkdov(the main rebel leader who was in 1997 president of the independent country) said that they will change their tactics from sabotage missions to spectacular attacks and it looks like it`s happening.

And the 5 soldiers per day could as well be accurate.Russian ministry are very reluctant to release the number of casualties from Chechenia because it will damage their image very much.You always here from the media first and they only report major attacks with witnesses that Kremlin has to confirm afterwards.For example in the siege of Grozny after severe presure they admited atleast 1,500 casualties on their side.

I really think that Putin should change his atitude towards Chechenia.How many more soldiers have to die until he realise that the country must gain independence for the violence to stop.Mashkdov is not an impossible man not a wahabi or like other extremist,he knows what has to be done to make the country work,peace should be negotiated with him to stop the bloodshed.

http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/article.php?id=2893


.................................

As for possible approaches to resolving the ongoing conflict, Maskhadov said: "We tried to approach the Russian government with our proposal several times. We told them, 'Let's stop this war ourselves without involving anyone into this process.' We are fighting to eliminate the danger to the very existence of the Chechen people. And where does this danger emanate from? From the Russian state. They start wars with us whenever they want. They deport us whenever they want. They brand us traitors. They call us terrorists. They blow up their houses in Moscow and Volgodonsk and blame us for that. As long as we remain under the jurisdiction of their constitutional law, the danger will always be there. Our fight is about this danger. This danger will be eliminated only if we get an international status, only international law can protect us.



"So far as other things are concerned, we are prepared to do whatever they want us to do, whatever they find advantageous. We can jointly manage our economy, defenses. We can jointly guard our borders. We can create a common currency and conduct our diplomatic affairs together. We can think of common investment programs. We are prepared to sign agreements on collective security and join the fight against terrorism. That is what we are telling the Russians. But they don't want that. I see only one reason for that; it's because of their old imperial ambitions. In this situation, we are compelled to seek friends elsewhere simply because Russians don't want friendship with us.

"The second way to stop this war is based on 'the principle of conditional independence' that we have put forward [see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 July 2003]. International institutions in full agreement with the international law should call for the cessation of hostilities and the start of peace negotiations. That should be their responsibility. When the war stops, Russians should pull out their troops and the international community [should] send in a peacekeeping force. An international administration will supervise the process of governance and mediate in our talks with the Russians. This might be another solution that we would welcome. We see no other way out.



"If the Russians think they are going to win this war, they are wrong. If necessary, we'll fight as long as it takes. We are not going to pass on this struggle and the suffering that it involves to our posterity. We took this responsibility on ourselves.

[GazB]

How many more soldiers have to die until he realise that the country must gain independence for the violence to stop.

Yeah, after all it stopped instantly the last time they got independance didn't it?

[J-10]

Chechen Rebels Raid Russia's Ingushetia; Minister Among 46 Dead
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Chechen rebels staged overnight raids in Ingushetia, bordering Chechnya in Russia's southern Caucasus region, and killed 46 people including a cabinet minister, the Ingush government said.

Ingush Interior Minister Abukar Kostoyev and two prosecutors were among the dead, the government said in a statement posted on its Web site. Eighteen of those killed were police or other officials, Interfax said.

``This inhuman act was aimed not only against the Ingush people but against tens of thousands of Chechen refugees,'' Ingush President Murat Zyazikov said in a statement. The rebels wanted ``to destabilize the situation in the republic, widen the zone of military activity and sow panic among the peaceful population,'' he said.

The mainly Muslim republic is in an area where the rebels want to establish an Islamic state. The raids on Nazran, Ingushetia's largest city, and the towns of Karabulak and Sleptsovskaya began at about 11 p.m. local time yesterday, when about 100 rebels crossed from both Chechnya and the republic of North Ossetia, according to the Ingush government site.

There were no figures for rebel casualties. Troops were pursuing small groups of rebels still on Ingush territory, the government said. The president declared three days of official mourning.

Russia has about 80,000 soldiers in Chechnya, where they have been fighting insurgents since 1994. In 1999, Chechen rebels attacked villages in Dagestan, another majority-Muslim Russian republic they have targeted for inclusion in an Islamic state.

More than 66,000 people have fled Chechnya, a republic of 1 million, to seek refuge in Ingushetia. Chechnya will hold a presidential election in December to choose a successor to Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in May in a bomb attack by rebels.

From (http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aNcb9NwI.Gbs&refer=home)

[Liquid]

Yeah, after all it stopped instantly the last time they got independance didn't it?

Yeah in one sentence you`ve described the entire situation in Chechnya haven`t you :roll:

It was ALOT more complicated.Aslan Maskhadov during his presidency denounced terrorism and even tried to stop the spreading of wahabism,but lost power to warlords-who were the ones responsable for the incursion in Dagestan.

He is one of the last moderate figures on the rebels part who is willing to negotiate with russian authorities and wants peacekeeping troops in Chechenya with a UN mandate which would thankfully keep the warlords contained and the support for wahabism.

So someone tell me,isn`t this a resonable solution,which will lead to an end of this continous bloodshed and severe loss of lifes?

[aktarian]

Chechnya's separatist rebels always make trouble.

Bastards. They should accept occupation and roll over. :roll:

RIP to dead but that's cost of occupation....