MOSCOW — Russian troops swept into three regions of the Caucasus on Tuesday on orders from President Vladimir V. Putin to "track down and destroy" Chechen insurgents who killed at least 57 people in one of the biggest displays of coordinated firepower in their 10 years of war.
The attack in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, Chechnya's neighbor to the west, mocked Kremlin assertions that it had managed to end the Chechen conflict. Fighters only recently dismissed by the Kremlin as "bandits" and "pockets of resistance" engaged in a nightlong gunfight that left the streets of Ingushetia littered with bodies, wrecked military vehicles and charred automobiles.
In the aftermath, Russian authorities surrounded three Ingush towns Tuesday and were conducting anti-rebel roadblocks and passport checks in Chechnya and another nearby Russian republic, Dagestan.
Ingushetia has been a relative haven for tens of thousands of Chechen refugees seeking shelter from the war between Russian forces and separatists in their home region. In the attack that started late Monday, the insurgents appeared to focus on symbols of Russian authority in the region.
In a grim meeting with Putin and his senior security officials, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev reported that Chechen rebels were able to cut off all main roads into the Ingush city of Nazran, including the main Caucasus Highway, and launch nine nearly simultaneous strikes in three towns against police stations, Interior Ministry buildings, border guard units and a motor rifle garrison.
"The federal authorities have not done enough to protect the republic," said Putin, who ordered the deployment of a regiment of Interior Ministry troops to Nazran during a visit to the region late Tuesday.
"I hope you do everything to investigate these crimes within the shortest time possible, and find and expose all the organizers and all the participants.... Look for them for as long as it takes; the quicker the better," the Russian president said.
An estimated 300 to 500 rebel fighters were involved in the operation, which followed Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov's promise this month to step up offensive military operations.
Coming just six weeks after the assassination of Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, the attack left in doubt Russia's plan to gradually withdraw federal forces from Chechnya and hold presidential elections there in August in an atmosphere of calm.
