Chechen rebels hunted in the southern Dagestani highlands suffered more from their own Arab command than from the Russian military. The mercenaries have apparently taken their healthiest fighters and headed to Georgia leaving the wounded to die in Russian air attacks and landslides without food or warm clothes. The rebels left to die in Dagestan are in a critical condition. Ten Chechen rebels eliminated on Monday by Russian troops were doomed to certain death. Had they not been killed by Russian forces, they would have died anyway from cold and hunger.
Such was the fate ordained for them by the Arabs in command of the unit that two weeks ago attacked the Mokokh frontier post and seized the mountain village of Shauri. According to the FSB press-service, a captive Chechen said that the Arab mercenaries – members of their unit – shot dead two rebels who wanted to surrender. He was the only one who managed to deceive the leaders and flee the gang safely. The ‘deserter’ recounted that the Arabs had selected the ten most battle-worthy fighters and, taking warm coats and foodstuffs from the rest, headed in the direction of Georgia. Their hungry and freezing comrades were left behind to cover their retreat.
| "You guys hold 'em off while we go get help..." |
''On 28 December a clash between a subdivision of the special purpose unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and a group of rebels took place. After an intensive exchange of gunfire ten rebels were eliminated,'' the Defence Ministry reported on Monday. Gazeta.Ru wrote earlier that the part of the rebel gang that was encircled in the mountains on the border between the Tsunti and Tsumandinsky districts of Dagestan was, in all probability, completely wiped out. Two days ago the military said they had blocked 10-12 bandits in the highlands and later said that ten more were eliminated. Apparently, the unit encircled by Russian troops was none other than the unit left behind by the Arabs, while about a dozen of the stronger fighters are still heading towards the Georgian border.
| That would be the group led by the Arabs... |
The captured Chechen also shed light on the other details of the encircled unit. Apart from the ten shot dead by the Russians on Sunday, another eight members of the gang were killed in a landslide triggered by artillery bombardments of the mountain slopes. The FSB said on Monday evening that there are ''well-known Arab field commanders'' among the mercenaries in charge of the unit. That information was also communicated to the FSB by their talkative captive. It remains somewhat unclear what the FSB press service means by calling the Arab mercenaries ''well-known''. Other than Arabs well known to the FSB only, probably the most notorious Arab mercenary is Abu al-Walid, who has become somewhat renowned through reports from Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Kremlin’s spokesman for Chechnya, and Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman for the Russian command in the Northern Caucasus. The other Arab warlord mentioned in military reports is Abu Omar as-Sayaf, who in his time allegedly tried to oust al-Walid. Other Arabs in Chechnya are less well known to the general public.
| They shouldn't be, though. They should be trumpeting the names and countries of origin of all of them they know about... |
Perhaps the main thing that neither the FSB nor the military seem to doubt is that the rebels terrorizing Dagestan were heading to Georgia and are still trying to cross the border. Commander of the joint federal troops grouping in the Northern Caucasus General-Colonel Valery Baranov also has information about the rebels. On Monday evening Baranov told ITAR-TASS that those rebels were from Ruslan Gelayev’s gang, heading to Georgia, where they planned a series of terror attacks in the run up to the presidential polls in that country (scheduled for January 4). |