TA-ATTACKS: Rebels Strike Near Russia's Chechnya Region; 46 Dead, page 1

posted on Jun, 22 2004 @ 03:58 AM

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NAZRAN, Ingushetia - Heavily-armed rebels seized an interior ministry building near Russia's troubled Chechnya region early Tuesday and attacked other key points in lightning attacks which left at least 46 people dead.

The coordinated operation in Ingushetia, mainly in the capital Nazran, led to a fierce overnight battle involving grenade-launchers and automatic weapons as security forces tried to dislodge the rebels from the ministry building.

"Among those killed are 18 members of the police force...and 28 civilians," Yakhya Khadziyev, a spokesman for the Ingushi regional interior ministry, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

He said two rebel fighters had also been killed. Another 30 people had been injured.

Witnesses told a local correspondent they had seen the bodies of many police officers in the ministry building which the rebels held for several hours before pulling out.

this was one of the biggest attacks for some time now.. russia has about 80,000 soldiers in Chechnya fighting rebels who want to set up an independent Islamic state in the republic of about 1 million people. The civil war forced more than 66,000 Chechens to seek refuge in Ingushetia.

Reuters

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

[edit on 22-6-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

[edit on 22-6-2004 by John bull 1]

[edit on 22-6-2004 by Banshee]

Enki

posted on Jun, 22 2004 @ 12:08 PM

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Reuters has another article here saying 57 people were killed and and 60 wounded.

Additionally:

the dead included the acting regional interior minister Abukar Kostoyev, who had been in the building when it was captured

SIRR1

posted on Jun, 22 2004 @ 12:15 PM

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I think I read some where that these rebels are muslums fighters connected with OBL and AQ, if this is true, maybe the US and SU could work together to eliminate this problem.

JacKatMtn

posted on Jun, 22 2004 @ 10:33 PM

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Here is another story that will be in the Wash Post on Wed, pretty much the same basic story but goes more in depth with quotes from Putin & description of the attack along with comment from the locals, some who hid in their basements during the attack.
Wash Post Article

KrazyIvan

posted on Jun, 22 2004 @ 10:37 PM

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hell putin has like 10,000+ tanks. why not launch a masive armored blitz krieg and wipe these people out?

Bleys

posted on Jun, 22 2004 @ 11:30 PM

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KI-I think the blitz cometh. From Foxnews:

Putin ordered authorities "to find and destroy" the attackers, whose raid came amid preparations for an August election to replace the Kremlin-backed Chechen president.

Russians certainly don't screw around with ultimatums.

www.foxnews.com...