Night shelling in Bachi-Yurt, indiscriminate shooting and death of a bystander in Grozny, murder of a resident of Tsotsin-Yurt

October 4, 2001

***
On the night of October 4, in the village of Bachi-Yurt, several shots were fired from a grenade launcher from the village police station, located in the center of the village. As a result of the shelling, the houses of the Dzhabrailovs and Musayevs were damaged, and the mosque was damaged. After some time, fire was opened again from the territory of the commandant's office. This time the shooting was carried out from machine guns and machine guns.

In the morning, residents of Bachi-Yurt approached the military and demanded to know the reason for the shelling. They stated that they were allegedly attacked by militants at night and that they responded only with machine guns and machine guns. However, there were no traces of bullets or shell fragments left on the commandant’s office building. This, according to local residents, refutes the military’s version of a “night attack” and indicates that the shooting was carried out only by them.

***
In the morning, on the Staropromyslovskoe highway in Grozny, near the Neftyanka bus stop, a sapper was blown up by a landmine. After the explosion, the Russian military, who were inspecting this section of the road with him, opened indiscriminate fire. As a result, a bystander died. The next day, speaking on local television, a representative of the Russian command said that a series of explosions had occurred in the city, but no one, neither military nor civilians, had been injured.

***
In the village of Tsotsin-Yurt, local resident Aslanbek (T-Ali) Kherikhanov, born in 1969, was killed by unknown persons. The murder was committed with small arms.

In the evening, Aslanbek was sitting on the porch of his house. A white VAZ-2106 stopped nearby. The people sitting in it opened fire and killed Kherikhanov. Village residents believe that he was killed by members of the Jamaat group, allegedly for collaborating with federal forces.

At this time, such murders in Tsotsin-Yurt happened often. Federal special services working in the region detained local residents almost every day, not only members of the WF of the ChRI. They were often subjected to torture. Some detainees agreed to cooperate with law enforcement agencies. Through them, the “security forces” passed on information to the militants about the residents of Tsotsin-Yurt, who were allegedly collaborating with the intelligence services. Moreover, this information was not always reliable. After receiving the “signal”, members of the WF of the ChRI gathered for a meeting and decided the fate of the “national traitor”. Most often they were given a death sentence. As a result, many residents of this locality and neighboring villages were killed. Later, a police detachment was created here, consisting of local residents whose relatives were killed by militants. The detachment was commanded by Alvi Usmanov. Most members of the detachment had previously fought against federal forces, so they knew all the members of the resistance. Thanks to the active work of this detachment, the Jamaat group was liquidated in Tsotsin-Yurt. However, many “bloods” and dissatisfied people appeared in the village.

From the book “People Live Here”, Usam Baysaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006.