| A nighttime attack this week in the Russian republic of Ingushetia by militants near the border of war-ravaged Chechnya killed 92 people and wounded 125, a regional government official said Wednesday. Among the dead were 67 members of law enforcement agencies, said the official, Magomed Ziyaudinnov. About 1,000 militants had taken part in the attacks late Monday night, Ziyaudinnov said, quoting the Ingush Interior Ministry. Ingush officials had previously said about 200 fighters had participated. The regional branch of Russia’s Federal Security Service received information about the movements of an armed group about 30 minutes before the start of the attacks, the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the deputy of the regional branch, Andrei Konin, as saying. "But we did not expect such breadth — simultaneous attacks on 15 sites," Konin told ITAR-Tass. An Ingush policeman who identified himself only by his first name, Musa, said the attacks appeared to be timed around the changing of the guard at the Kavkaz checkpoint, the biggest army and police traffic stop on the main highway between Chechnya and Ingushetia, shortly before midnight Monday. Many soldiers were killed in ambushes, while police and other law enforcement officials were shot and killed after being called to work after an alert was issued, Musa said. The officials were stopped and asked for identification papers at checkpoints set up by the gunmen, who were dressed in black balaclava masks and camouflage uniforms or black leather jackets similar to those worn by police. |