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| Caucasus |
| Chechen Rebels Fire on Russian Chopper |
| 2003-02-28 |
| Chechen rebels opened fire on a Russian military helicopter carrying 19 soldiers, severely damaging the aircraft and forcing an emergency landing, the Defense Ministry said Friday. No casualties were reported. The attack occurred Thursday night as the Mi-8 helicopter, with a crew of three, was evacuating troops from a combat zone, the ministry said in Moscow. The ITAR-Tass news agency reported that the helicopter was among three picking up troops from special operations in the mountainous Vedeno region. The helicopter landed close to Kharachoi, a village near the border with the Russian region of Dagestan, said an official in the Moscow-backed Chechen administration. Rebels fired from a large-caliber machine-gun, and the helicopter landed in a mountainous, forested area in difficult weather conditions, the Interfax-Military News Agency said, citing an anonymous source in the Russian military headquarters in Khankala, near the Chechen capital Grozny. It had 10 bullet holes, the Chechen official said on condition of anonymity. Russians got lucky this time. Chechens must be running low on SAMs. Other rebel attacks over the past 24 hours killed 10 Russian servicemen and wounded 15, the Chechen official said. Three of the soldiers were killed when rebels blew up a military van near the eastern city of Argun, and three were wounded in a nearly two-hour firefight with rebels near Ulus-Kert in the southwestern Urus-Martan region. Two rebels were killed and one was wounded and detained in that clash and another firefight near the village of Dzhani-Vedeno, in the south. The ones who were killed are the lucky ones. Russian troops detained 150 people across Chechnya on suspicion of rebel ties, the official said. |
| Posted by:Steve |