Russian Troops Search for Chechen Resistance Men

27/05/2001| IslamWeb

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Russian forces searched parts of the Chechen capital, Grozny, and the mountains to the south for suspected Resistance men Sunday, detaining more than 50 suspects, authorities said.
Federal forces also halted traffic in and out of Argun, Chechnya's third-largest city, as Russian soldiers rounded up residents for questioning about possible ties to Resistance men, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said.
Troops also began mopping-up operations in several districts of Grozny, and the search for insurgents in the mountains of the Shatoi region, 28 miles south of Grozny, entered a second day, the official said.
Russian troops were ordered to complete mopping-up operations on Sunday, the day that marks the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan, said Nikolai Britvin, deputy presidential representative for the region.
Authorities foiled an attack planned by the insurgents on the eve of the holiday, he told ITAR-Tass news agency.
While large-scale combat operations are now rare in Chechnya, hit-and-run attacks and land mines wound and kill Russian troops, civilians and Resistance men almost every day.
Resistance men attacked Russian positions and checkpoints 12 times over a 24-hour period, killing two Russian servicemen and wounding six others, the official said.
Five other servicemen were killed and three wounded when their vehicles hit land mines in Grozny and the town of Shali, 16 miles southeast of the capital.
The federal forces' mopping-up operations, in which Chechen residents are often held and interrogated for hours, have drawn fire from international human rights groups. Residents complain of looting, beatings, torture and even killings during the sweeps.
Russia withdrew its forces from Chechnya in 1996 after a 20-month war that left the separatists in charge.
Russian troops returned after nationalist Chechen incursions into a neighboring region and after more than 300 people were killed in apartment bombings that Russian officials blame on the nationalists. .