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| More on the Nalchik raid |
| 2005-10-16 |
| THE diehard gang of Muslim extremists responsible for last weekâs attack on the southern Russian city of Nalchik consisted mainly of local militants intent on creating a strict Islamic state independent of Moscow, according to security sources in the region. The disclosure that the gunmen were not sent from the war-torn republic of Chechnya but belonged to a group from Kabardino-Balkaria, the Russian republic of which Nalchik is the capital, will be of great concern to the Kremlin. It provides alarming evidence that far from dying down â as claimed by President Vladimir Putin â the bloody Chechen conflict is spreading. âMost of the militants who were killed and those caught alive are local,â said an officer with the Nalchik anti-terrorism police unit. â The ferocity of the attacks has shocked the city.â The 24 hours of gun battles in which several police stations and other security forces buildings were attacked left at least 108 dead, including more than 60 militants. Nearly 30 others were detained. Most of the gunmen were thought to be members of Yarmuk, a homegrown fundamentalist group that the local authorities twice claimed to have destroyed. Composed mainly of young extremists from the regionâs two main ethnic groups, the Kabardins and the Balkars, Yarmuk has close ties with Shamil Basayev, Russiaâs most wanted terrorist, who was behind the Beslan attack and appears to be extending his influence in an attempt to open up a new front in his war with Moscow. Last week Russian prosecutors blamed Anzor Astemirov, a radical Yarmuk leader with ties to Basayev, for the Nalchik attacks. Local officials claimed they were launched to rescue a group of extremists surrounded by security forces. But the assault on the city appeared too well organised to be spontaneous. Observers believe it was a suicide mission with the aim of killing scores of officers and embarrassing the authorities. Security forces were caught off guard when about 100 militants armed with AK47s, hand grenades and rocket launchers turned up in the city centre. In near-simultaneous attacks shortly after 9am on Thursday, the militants targeted three police stations, the headquarters of the local FSB (the former KGB), the interior ministry building, the offices of the cityâs prison guards, a military unit guarding the airport and a counter-terrorism centre. âSuddenly a car pulled up outside the FSB building,â said Evgenia Sakurova, the director of a hotel opposite. âFive or six armed men jumped out and ran towards the FSB entrance. They were carrying rucksacks. Quickly they took them off and threw them at the main doors. Explosions followed and all the windows on the ground and first floors were blown out. But the terrorists didnât manage to break into the building and officers started shooting at them from inside.â Two militants were killed in the gun battle. Three others ran for cover into a souvenir shop where they reportedly took three women hostage. As battles raged across the city centre, 15 militants mounted an assault on a police station near the airport. âTwo cars packed with armed men drove up to the building,â a witness said. âOne group lobbed a hand grenade into the front entrance and stormed inside. The other attacked the side entrance. âThere were a few officers chatting by their parked cars. The militants fired at them from machineguns and killed them.â A firefight ensued as officers on the first and second floors fired back at the militants. As another group of gunmen was beaten back by soldiers at the airport and Russian reinforcements began to pour into the city, militants raided at least two gun shops. One police officer and three gunmen were killed at one of them. A wounded masked militant was seen crawling on the ground screaming in pain. Putin ordered the city to be sealed off and anyone putting up resistance to be shot. However, some militants are thought to have escaped. At the souvenir shop, it took until the early hours of Friday to end the standoff. âThe shop was surrounded,â said Alexei Lavrentiev, who watched Russian special forces in gas masks storm the building. âThey fired several rockets from a grenade launcher through the window and fired from machineguns. An armoured personnel carrier smashed through a wall. Two hostages were carried out. They looked more dead than alive.â As he stared at the bodies of two policemen and three insurgents Lavrentiev added: âThe militants are all dead now but the city is in a state of shock. The question on everybodyâs mind is, where and when will these terrorists strike next?â |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |