Chechen guerrillas attack the federal army in Chechnya and IngushetiaRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus – A group of Chechen resistance fighters with rifle-launched grenades and firearms opened fire on a federal army truck convoy on Thursday. The incident took place in the Sunzhensky district of Ingushetia between the villages of Nesterovskaya and Alkhasty.
Official sources reported six dead and seven wounded soldiers. The attackers hid in the adjacent forest before reinforcements arrived. The injured were taken to the Sunzhensky district hospital, given first aid, and subsequently transferred to the military hospital in the town of Vladikavkaz.
A few hours before these events, the resistance fighters shot down an Mi-8 military helicopter in the Vedensky district near the village of Dyshne-Vedeno. The helicopter had just dropped off paratroopers who were to patrol the location, and was taking off for its base when a missile was launched from a portable anti-aircraft system somewhere in the forest. According to some sources, the three crew members on board were killed.
The representatives of the Joint Troops Group command in Chechnya admitted the loss of the helicopter. However, some army officials support the version that the helicopter might have crashed for technical reasons, such as the propellers being caught in tree branches.
(P/V,T) |
