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| Caucasus |
| Caucasus Corpse Count |
| 2004-03-12 |
| Eight federal troops and local police officers have been killed in rebel raids in Chechnya over the past day. Five of them died in 19 rebel raids on federal outposts throughout Chechnya since Wednesday. Two of the soldiers died in a clash with rebels Wednesday near the southern village of Gekhi. A member of the security detail of Chechnya’s Moscow-supported leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed and two of his colleagues were wounded when their car hit a rebel land mine Wednesday near the village of Galsonchu in the eastern Nozhai-Yurt region. Two officers in the Moscow-backed local police were wounded Wednesday by a federal soldier in the city of Argun after they refused to stop for checks at a railway station. Over the past 24 hours, Russian artillery shelled suspected rebel hideouts in the southern mountains and troops detained at least 160 people for suspected rebel ties. Magomed Khambiyev, a one-time defense minister in the separatist government of Chechnya, surrendered to the Moscow-backed local administration this week, becoming the highest-ranking rebel to take advantage of the Kremlin amnesty. Speaking to reporters in Chechnya’s second-largest city of Gudermes on Thursday, Khambiyev denied allegations that he had been forced to surrender after the detention of his family members. ``I was in opposition to Russia for 13 years, but I decided to stop because my people want peace and tranquility,’’ Khambiyev was quoted as saying. He added that he was eager to help the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration. Kadyrov’s son, Ramzan, who leads his security detail, told Interfax that another rebel warlord, Boris Aidamirov, and 10 of his men surrendered Thursday. He said Aidamirov was an aide to separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |