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2004 Nazran raid

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Nazran raid
Part of Second Chechen War
DateJune 21-22, 2004
LocationIngushetia, Russian Federation
Result Major rebel victory
Belligerents
Russian Federation Caucasian Front
Commanders and leaders
Abukar Kostoyev †
Zyaudin Kotiyev †
Sergei Koryakov		 Shamil Basayev
Akhmed Yevloyev
Dokka Umarov
Strength
Unknown 200-600
Casualties and losses
80 killed, 106 wounded At least 6 killed (some 30 suspects arrested later)
Civilians
27 killed and 55 wounded
Second Chechen War
(guerrilla phase)

The Nazran raid was a large-scale raid carried out on Republic of Ingushetia, Russian Federation, on the night of June 21-22, 2004, by a large number of mostly Chechen and Ingush fighters. According to the Ingush government, 98 people, mostly policemen, FSB officers, and border guards, were killed in clashes with the rebels, and 104 others were wounded. Later, this figure was revised down to 88 killed.

The attacks

The overnight attacks targeted 15 government buildings in the former Ingush capital and the largest city, Nazran, and at least two settlements located on the Baku-Rostov highway that crosses the republic from east to west (Karabulak and Sleptsovskaya). The targets of simultaneous attacks included the Interior Ministry (MVD) headquarters in Nazran, the base of an FSB border guard unit in Nazran, and also arms depots, municipal police headquarters and OMON headquarters in settlements northeast of Nazran. The federal army troops managed to reach Nazran only at 4 a.m., after the fighting there was over.

Witnesses to the attacks told Russian media that most of the attackers spoke the Ingush language and wore masks and camouflage uniforms similar to those worn by the Russian police. The rebels patrolled Nazran, setting roadblocks and stopping motorists, asking to see their documents. Any law enforcement officials they encountered were shot and killed, with exception of members of traffic police who were spared. The raid lasted nearly five hours, and the raiders withdrew almost unscathed and with two truckloads of captured weapons (1,177 firearms and over 70,000 rounds of ammunition). The Interior Ministry building and Nazran train station were burned down. Ingush officials said the rebels took some 20 hostages with them, mostly police officers.

Casualties

According to the official figures of Ingushetia's pro-Moscow administration, 90 people were killed in the raid, a number revised downward from 98. The final toll included 27 civilians, 24 Ingush policemen, 10 members of federal special forces, eight FSB agents, six federal soldiers, five officials from the local prosecutor's office, three Ingush soldiers, two Chechen policemen, at least two guerrillas and three unidentified people. About 106 people were injured, including 51 members of government forces.

The largest group of the dead were local police and other law enforcement officials, whom the rebels said they killed for collaborating with Russian security services in kidnappings and killings of Ingush civilians suspected of sympathizing with the rebels. They included the republic's acting Interior Minister Colonel Abukar Kostoyev, his deputy Zyaudin Kotiyev, the city of Nazran's chief prosecutor Mukharbek Buzurtanov, the district of Nazran's chief prosecutor Belan Oziyev, the Ingushetia's investigator for major criminal cases Timur Detogazov, and several other police officials. Among the dead were three officers from the elite Vympel unit of the FSB who had been deployed by helicopter as the only government reinforcements at the night of the attack.

A number of civilians, including the Ingush health minister and a local United Nations worker, were killed in the crossfire. Only two dead rebels were found in the morning after attack, but the rebel Kavkaz Center website said the attackers lost six men killed. The KC statement also said that over 120 "servants of Russia" were killed in the attack and 30 policemen were captured.

Aftermath

Army General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, the Russian Deputy Interior Minister and the commander of Russia's Internal Troops (VV), decided to resign after Federal Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev blamed them for the high number of deaths. After Tikhomirov's resignation, the VV remained without a head for a month.

Some 30 suspected rebels, mostly Ingush, were arrested in the next two months over their part in the Nazran raid. One of them, Murat Gasayev, was initially released without charges, but as of 2008 Russia demands his extradition from Spain.

Several days after the September 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Vladimir Kolesnikov said 10 of the weapons stolen in Nazran were used in the Beslan attack. One of the demands of Beslan terrorists was also the release of the raid suspects.

In July, 2004 the Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov publicly accepted responsibility for the attacks. In the same month, Maskhadov promised more similar attacks.

See also

References

  1. http://www.hsaj.org/resources/HSAJ%20Volume%202,%20Issue%203.pdf
  2. WARLORD UMAROV'S MEN LIKELY INVOLVED IN REBEL ATTACK
  3. ^ John B. Dunlop Beslan - Russia's 9/11?
  4. Death toll from Ingushetia rebel attacks revised down to 88
  5. The Internal Corps - The Kremlin's Private Army
  6. Richard Sakwa, ed. (2005). "Robert Bruce Ware: Mythology and Political Failure in Chechnya". Chechnya: From Past to Future. Anthem Press. pp. 79–115. ISBN 978-1-84331-164-5.

External links

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