| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus |
| Kavkaz video shows raid into Ingushetia |
| 2004-07-27 |
| A Chechen rebel Web site published rare video footage on Tuesday of what it described as a deadly raid last month led by Russia's most wanted separatist on a Russian arms depot. The Kavkaz Center site showed a bearded man it identified as Shamil Basayev, the head of an extreme Chechen faction who has battled Russian forces for a decade. He is the most prominent rebel leader after fugitive president Aslan Maskhadov, who said this month that Basayev was operating outside the separatists' "official structures." More than 90 people were killed on June 22 when gunmen rampaged through Nazran, the main center of Ingushetia, a region west of Chechnya with a population closely related to Chechens. The raid -- and the assassination of Chechnya's pro-Moscow president in May -- appear to have emboldened the rebels a month before new presidential elections. In the latest violence, masked gunmen burst into a building housing an elite pro-Moscow force in Chechnya's capital Grozny on Tuesday, killing two men. The footage on the rebel Web site showed what it described as an episode of the Ingushetia raid it said was led by Basayev. "I express my gratitude to the leadership of Ingushetia for preserving arms and ammunition for us in good condition," said the man in the film, bearded and looking very much like Basayev. "We have collected what they had seized from us this year." The man, in combat gear, was seen issuing orders to gunmen in a large room and demonstrating several pieces of firearms. He was, however, quite agile in his movements. Basayev had a foot amputated while leading fighters out of Grozny in 2000 when Russia dispatched troops to the region for the second time. The man said more than 570 rebels had taken part in the Nazran raid, which called into question Moscow's claims that rebels had insufficient forces to launch a major operation. He said rebels had seized 700 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 80 pistols and a million rounds of ammunition during the raid. The onslaught revived memories of a separatist attack on Grozny in August 1996, which forced Russia to withdraw from Chechnya after nearly two years of fighting. Basayev played a prominent role in that raid. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |