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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| More on the Nalchik seige |
| 2005-01-26 |
| Russian police laid siege to suspected Islamic militants in the volatile Caucasus region on Wednesday, maintaining a tense stand-off after three similar sieges this month ended in gun battles. Local officials said up to five militants had barricaded themselves in an apartment block in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria region, along with some women, believed to be their wives or girlfriends. Local Interior Minister Khochim Shogenov said the men were believed to be members of a militant Islamist group called "Yarmuk" which killed four people in an attack on an anti-drugs unit last month and also killed two policemen in September. "We believe that it is those people, or even some of the leaders of the group we are looking for," Shogenov told state television. Police evacuated residents after surrounding the building on Tuesday and began negotiating with the militants. Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has branded the entire region a "breeding ground for Wahhabism", as Islamic extremism is known in Russia, and officials link the militants to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda movement. Police have already stormed three militant hide-outs in sieges elsewhere in the Caucasus this month. Despite using mortars and bazookas and a tank, they took more than 15 hours to subdue one gang, and at least four soldiers died in the sieges. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |