Gunmen Slay 5 Russians, Abduct Four
MOSCOW — Several dozen gunmen believed to be Chechen rebels killed at least five border guards in the Russian republic of Dagestan on Monday, then took at least four hostages from a mountain village and fled through heavy fog with hundreds of police and soldiers in pursuit, authorities said.
The latest incident was somewhat reminiscent of a 1999 incursion into Dagestan, when Chechen guerrillas seized and held five villages for nearly three weeks.
But the fighters Monday were in the village of Shauri for only a few hours, and pro-Russian Chechen authorities vowed that the gunmen would be tracked down and killed.
"This is another act of terrorism aimed at destabilizing the overall situation in the country," Ramazan Mamedov, Dagestan's representative at the Kremlin, told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.
The incident began when Russian border guards gave chase to a group of "25 to 40 bandits," Dagestan Interior Ministry spokesman Mark Tolchinsky said in a telephone interview. "The soldiers got into an ambush."
After the short firefight, "the rebels finished the wounded border guards with cold steel," NTV television reported. The militants beheaded the border guards' commander, Russian media said.
Four guards were missing and possibly taken hostage in addition to the villagers.
"Five servicemen were killed and their truck is upside down in a ravine," Sergei Solovyov, a border guard spokesman, told NTV. "The rest of the men are missing, and we have no information so far about their whereabouts."
The suspected rebels then entered Shauri, about 10 miles from Russia's border with the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Tolchinsky said. Local officials told Russian media that the fighters took four hostages from the village: a male nurse, a heating plant employee, a university student and an unemployed man.
The group was reportedly armed with grenade launchers as well as assault rifles. At least part of the group reportedly commandeered vehicles for their escape.
Bad weather hindered Russian forces in their search for the gunmen.
"Border guard helicopters are being used to search the area where the rebels might be located," said an unnamed military operations headquarters representative quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax. "The work of aircraft and ground groups is being hampered by poor visibility, which is close to zero."
- Chechen Rebels Blow Up Pipeline Feb 23, 1996
- Russia Keeps Up Its Assault on Chechen Rebels Sep 21, 1999
- Chechen Rebel Claims He Has Killed 5 Hostages Jun 16, 1995
