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| Caucasus |
| Chechen Rebel Attacks Kill 11 |
| 2002-07-07 |
| Rebel ambushes and land mine explosions killed 11 soldiers and police across Chechnya in the last 24 hours, an official in the pro-Moscow Chechen administration said Friday. Rebels fired on Russian positions 15 times, killing three and wounding three. A military vehicle was blown up by a land mine in the capital Grozny, injuring three soldiers. A sapper working to defuse another mine in the capital suffered life-threatening injuries when it exploded. In the southern Vedeno district, a group of special military police clashed with rebels, leaving two police dead and one wounded. One rebel was also killed. At least 100 people were detained in security sweeps in the last 24 hours across the republic, and Russian artillery shelled suspected rebel holdouts in Chechnya's second-largest city Gudermes and in the Urus-Martan, and Achkhoi-Martan districts. Large-scale combat operations ended long ago in the southern Russian republic, but small-scale rebel attacks continue to bleed Russian troops daily and belie the Kremlin line that life is returning to normal in Chechnya. The Russian military also remains active, shelling suspected rebel bases and conducting security raids daily. As long as they've broken the main organization, they can be considered mopping up. That doesn't say the mopping up operation will be easy or bloodless, but it's necessary to prevent these thugs from reforming, lining up more financing in Arabia, and going back into the wahhabi business. I'll be a lot happier when Maskhadov and Basayev are collecting lilies, and so will Putin. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |