Scud Missiles Hit Vedeno District UPDATE
Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus, special to Prague Watchdog
Clashes continue in Vedeno district between groups of Chechen fighters and the troops of Russian army and the Interior Ministry located in Vedeno and near the settlement of Khatuni. On Wednesday, August 15, peripheral parts of Tsa-Vedeno, Eshilkhatoi, Elistanzhi and Vedeno came under fire of the Scud missiles.
According to reliable sources on Thursday, August 16, Chechen groups ambushed a Russian army column of more than eighty vehicles on the road between Elistanzhi and Vedeno. The column was apparently on its way from the 45th paratroops regiment’s location to Vedeno in order to reinforce the district's commandment and the local police forces. The ambush was carried out near the town of Eshilkhatoi, a small settlement between Elistanzhi and Vedeno.
First estimations suggest that mortar and grenade-launcher explosions destroyed about nine armored cars and military vehicles. Chechen sources close to Aslan Maskhadov say the Russian side suffered losses and injuries in the ambush. The same sources inform there are four killed and six seriously wounded among the Chechens.
On Wednesday, August 15, peripheral parts of Tsa-Vedeno, Eshilkhatoi, Elistanzhi and Vedeno were attacked by Scud missiles. Residents of Vladikavkaz and Ingush villages of Golashki and Muzhitshi heard the sound of four launching missiles, of which three ended outside the Chechen settlements but one missile exploded above the village of Elistanzhi, killing six and wounding an unspecified number of other local inhabitants.
In October 1999 similar missiles were fired at the central market, a maternity hospital and a mosque in the Kalinina district, in the eastern part of Chechen capital Grozny. Hundreds of people were killed and doctors from the 9th city hospital (Grozny’s emergency hospital) confirm that more than two thousand people sought medical help then. The missiles have also been used against the positions of Chechen groups near the opening of Argun and Vedeno gorges, during an attack south of Shali where a former tank regiment was stationed, and other places.
In the light of current events, with Russian commanders having repeatedly claimed that military operations in Chechnya ended, the use of the Scud strategic missiles rather speaks for the deterioration of the situation in Vedeno district. Also the loss of a MI-24 military helicopter that was downed by Chechen snipers on Wednesday near the Mashtak range close to the settlement of Tsa-Vedeno confirms this new development.
Russian commanders insist Vedeno is under the full control of their military forces, although the situation must be considered explosive.
Inhabitants of Vedeno and other villages down the Vedeno road say that groups of Chechen fighters take up their positions in wood massifs and peripheral parts of settlements controlling the roads leading to the district center.
According to a source from the administration of Shali district, there is no telephone connection to Vedeno administration, although its premises as well as those of the commandment and the Interior Ministry are under control of Russian forces.
Ruslan Isayev is Prague Watchdog correspondent |
