Dozens die as Russian city raided

BBC News ^ | October 13, 2005 | BBC

[fishhound]

Civilians are believed to be among 60 people killed in clashes between police and rebels in Russia's volatile North Caucasus, say Russian media reports. Civilians are feared to be among 60 people killed in clashes between police and gunmen in Russia's volatile North Caucasus, say Russian media reports.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Nalchik city in Kabardino-Balkaria province to be sealed off and for forces to shoot any armed resisters.

Officials say armoured vehicles and troops have been deployed and the situation is returning to normal.

Militants from nearby Chechnya are believed to be behind the attacks.

A pro-rebel website said it had received information from rebel sources that a unit of Chechen armed forces had entered Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria.

'All-out attack'

A school and the city's airport, as well as government buildings, were caught up in the running gun-battles.

The BBC's Emma Simpson in Moscow says this appears to have been an all-out attack on Nalchik's law enforcement and security services.

Black smoke billowed across the city

Fighting broke out in the Belaya Rechka area early on Thursday and spread to several parts of the city.

A local Interior Ministry source told Itar-Tass that rebels launched a "carefully planned" simultaneous attack on police stations, Russia's federal security forces, military and drugs-control offices as well as the airport.

One unidentified security official has told Russian news agency Ria that the reason for the attack was the arrest on Wednesday of at least one radical extremist.

Correspondents say violence in Kabardino-Balkaria has been steadily increasing.

Political changes and a harsh crackdown on alleged Islamic militants appear to have pushed the region to the verge of instability, the BBC's regional analyst Steven Eke says.

'Eliminated'

Russian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said Mr Putin ordered the city to be completely sealed off to ensure not a single fighter could escape.

"Those who resist will be eliminated," he said.

He was also quoted as saying he knew of no civilians killed in the fighting.

A witness told the BBC she had seen the bodies of gunmen, soldiers and civilians in the streets. Earlier, regional President Arsen Kanokov said 12 civilians had died.

A third of the 150 rebels who took part in attacks had been killed, he told Itar-Tass news agency.

Five police officers had also died, Mr Putin's special envoy to the area, Dmitry Kozak, told Russian television.

He also said the gunmen had stormed one police station and taken hostages.

But officials quoted by Itar-Tass said they were later freed, although there were no details.

Mr Kozak said that overall the city was under control.

Website claim

The pro-rebel Kavkaz Center website said that a detachment of the Chechen-linked Kabardino-Balkaria jamaat, called Yarmuk, had entered Nalchik.

The use of the word jamaat indicates that it is made up of radical Islamic fighters.

The attacks are the latest in a series of disturbances that have been destabilising Russia's North Caucasus region for more than a year.

Correspondents say Nalchik is about 100 km (60 miles) north-west of Beslan, where Chechen rebels took hundreds of hostages at a school in 2004, in an attack claimed by warlord Shamil Basayev.

Our analyst says that after last year's Beslan massacre the government promised more money and support for the impoverished North Caucasus - but nothing has changed.

[Redbob]

"After last years attack on the children, my view changed on Chechnya. NUKE EM Putin."

After 2001's attack on the World Trade Center, MY view changed on Chechnya, on Bosnia, and on all other muslim enclaves.

Nuke 'em all, and we'll sort 'em out in a thousand years or so.

[indcons]

Well said....Colin Powell and the State department apparently met with Basayev's gang in Washington a couple of weeks before the Beslan Massacre. This was the incident that provoked Putin's infamous "Why don't you invite Bin Laden for talks?" comment. Under Powell, the State Department was an extension of the Arab lobby in the US. Things have changed a lot under Dr. Rice. Thank God for Condoleza Rice.

[Mi-kha-el]

Now is a good moment to show them our support. This could become a turning point in our relationship.

[Humidston]

Please people, pray for the safety of some missionaries we know there. Our church received word that this happened and we're fearful for the people we sent there to convert Muslims to Christianity.

One of the men I know personally, and he's a wonderful and dedicated guy!

[Americanexpat]

We are going to be playing cowboys and Muslims pretty soon right here.

Notice how these Chechen's like to attack schools and kill innocent children? Another reason why our intelligence services need to keep hammering away at terrorists including the home grown variety.

[Howe_D_Dewty]

Perhaps a freeper can help me.Wasnt there some terrorist from Chechnya that lived in the USA and we would not deport him.At my age the memory goes so easily....

[bill1952]

Because Russia does not stand squarely with the US in this struggle.

To the contrary, it sends advanced arms to Syria, intrigues against us in the UN, while equipping Iran with Nuclear power, and, at the same time, tries very hard to get us kicked out of the countries whose co operation is essential to the WOT.

Screw Putin. Its the old reap what you sow thing.

[FreeReign]

They did that. The result was an enemy country on their border and frequent attacks such as the one today.

The Russians need to go into Chechnya, remove all the terrorists and then they should -- leave Chechnya and its remaining people alone!

[FreeReign]

The U.S. has not supported Chechnya since 9/11, and it doesn't seem to me that Bush did so earlier...

I believe our policy is to see Chechnya free of terrorists and free of Russians.

[F16Fighter]

Islam hasn't changed since 700 AD.

The Koran commands ALL of them to do their "duty"...

...To convert ALL non-Muslims OR annihilate them.

No one will ever be at peace as long as one Muslim abides in the Koran.

[Carsigliere]

Probably because Putin does not back us on Iran and Syria.

[FreeAtlanta]

because Russia keeps siding against us.

[Cautor]

When Putin stops aiding terrorists who want to destroy the US, I will start being sympathetic to his terrorist problems.

[Cicero]

Probably it is. But the emphasis earlier was "free of Russians," who we were told were persecuting those nice, innocent Chechens, whereas now I'd say we are more concerned to get rid of the terrorists before we worry about the Russians.

[M. Espinola]

"The Russians need to go into Chechnya, remove all the terrorists and then they should -- leave Chechnya and its remaining people alone!"

Valid point. Stalin planted the seeds the ever expanding rebellion against Moscow's rule. How far with the jihadists be able to create war of blind terror throughout the Caucasus & beyond, plus how will the Kremlin put out all the fires?

Another question remains and that is with Putin assisting the jihad exporting Iranian's in the quest for offensive intercontinental capable nuclear weapons. How can Putin have the nerve to complain about Islam's jihadic terrorism when he is openly aiding the worst of the worst, ultra-radical Islamic régimes on the face of the earth?

[starfish923]

1. Just to clarify and conclude, the "herdsmen" referred to Cowboys and "soldiers" to Cossacks.
2. The Russians have some reason to see themselves as the historic eastern and southern bulwark of Christian civilization and
3. feel slighted when that's not recognized.

1. Unnecessary to clarify yet again. I already said the same thing in a previous post.

2. The Russians also see themselves as Europeans, not Asians. Always have. And, they are free to see themselves, with or without reason, as whatever they want, even as the Christian bulwark. I really don't particularly care. :o)

3. They've spend several centuries feeling slighted by the Europeans. Perhaps they still do. Only maybe they've have added the Americans to their list of people who slight them.

Personally, I don't think Putin feels that way. He's far too self-assured and secure in himself to ever feel slighted by anyone. I think more Russians actually feel like him. There is absolutely NOTHING for any Russian to feel slighted about, from anyone.
This country spent TRILLION$ on the Cold War....finally bringing the USSR to its feduciary knees.
I don't think this country would EVER slight the Russians. Lol. We are partners, so to speak, in space. That is no small thing.

[starfish923]

There used to be horselike critters in North America - the Indians ate them all.

Would that be with or without ketchup?

[starfish923]

We are going to be playing cowboys and Muslims pretty soon right here. Notice how these Chechen's like to attack schools and kill innocent children? Another reason why our intelligence services need to keep hammering away at terrorists including the home grown variety.

Cowboys, Indians and Cavalry all did their own version of killing innocent children. "No prisoners" isn't a new concept.
There USED to be slavery. That was the fate of SOME innocent women and children. There's no legal slavery today. If there were, perhaps the innocent women and children would be taken as slaves.

Our intel SHOULD keep hammering away. But intel can only inform. We have to follow through with as much ferocity (short of killing innocents) as did the cowboys, Indians, Cavalry AND Muslim Chechans. That is, we ought to take no Chechan prisoners.

We CAN'T take scalps either. Sorry. :o)

[Calpernia]

Russia: Regional President Says Wahhabis Behind Nalchik Raid
ITAR-TASS
Thursday, October 13, 2005


Nalchik, 13 October: Militants from the so-called Jamaat Yarmuk took part in a raid against a number of administrative facilities in Nalchik, President of Kabarda-Balkaria Arsen Konakov has told ITAR-TASS today.

"About 150 bandits from this religious extremist group comprising both local Wahhabists and those who come from other areas, including Chechnya," he noted.

Jamaat Yarmuk was set up by one of field commander Ruslan Gelayev's comrades-in-arms, Muslim Atayev, who was known as Seyfullah. This group is thought to have been involved in blasts of residential buildings in Moscow in 1999, attacks against the Ingush village of Galashki in 2002 and the Kabarda-Balkaria Drug Control Directorate in December 2004.

In January 2005 Jamaat Yarmuk called for a jihad in the North Caucasus.

Seyfullah was killed in the course of a special operation in Nalchik in January this year, and he was replaced by Anzor Astemirov who was killed today on the outskirts of Nalchik together with other bandits.

According to the president of the Russian Institute for religion and politics, Aleksandr Ignatenko, Jamaat Yarmuk is one of the cells of the international terrorist network which adheres to Wahhabism. Terrorist units are set up according to the following principle: a core of military commanders and ulems (experts in Wahhabi teachings) among which a Jamaat (community) is formed.

According to him: "Not only foreigners but also local people from among Muslims belong to these groups. They are told to re-convert to Islam and accept Wahhabism. The unit has not only a command but also a Shari'ah court whose task is to give religious interpretation to Jamaat actions."

(Description of Source: Moscow ITAR-TASS in Russian -- main government information agency)

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For more translations and news on terrorism, visit http://www.lauramansfield.com