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| Caucasus |
| Ingush mujahideen leader works for Basayev |
| 2004-06-24 |
| In an ominous sign of the instability in Russia’s southern Caucasus region, authorities said Wednesday that the coordinated raids earlier this week in the republic of Ingushetia were conducted by a mix of local and Chechen fighters and led by an Ingush commander. The description came after a pro-Chechen Web site reported that Ingush rebels had claimed responsibility for the attacks against what the rebels called Russian occupation forces and the puppet militia. The rebels claimed to have worked with mobile Chechen forces, and vowed more attacks. The NTV television channel reported that witnesses said that the masked attackers spoke Ingush and that fighters had called the raid revenge for official persecution of relatives and friends. The network attributed the attacks to an Ingush group led by a veteran Ingush fighter answering to a Chechen commander, Shamil Basayev. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Kadyrov said a local Muslim emir and commander had instigated the violence and was believed to be hiding in Ingushetia. The authorities identified him as Magomed Yevloyev and said he had fought alongside Chechen separatists, and had been linked to the murders of two senior rural administrators here. Maj. Gen. Alu Alkhanov, Chechnya’s interior minister, said the fighters were Chechen and Ingush gunmen seeking to destabilize the region prior to a special presidential election in August to replace the late Mr. Kadyrov. General Alkhanov is the presumptive front-runner. The pro-Chechen Web site, www.kavkazcenter.com, said the rebels claimed to have an extensive reconnaissance operation, and to have attacked ministries and law enforcement officials involved in the kidnapping and deaths of Ingush Muslims and Chechen refugees. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |