Preventive bombing

An alleged base of suspected militants was destroyed in Ingushetia

A large-scale special operation to eliminate a large group of militants took place yesterday in the Nazran region of Ingushetia. It involved forces unprecedented in modern times - special forces of the FSB and the 58th Army, units of the Regional Operational Headquarters (ROH) for managing the counter-terrorism operation, the Operational Control Group (ORG) in the Republic of Ingushetia, the Western Border operational group and a mobile detachment Ministry of Internal Affairs and two dozen attack helicopters. Simultaneously with the massive strike on the suspected location of the militants in the forest, operatives also carried out a targeted check in the neighboring villages of Ali-Yurt and Surkhakhi. The leadership of the special services stated that the militants suffered serious losses, but immediately admitted that only the traces of blood that were found spoke about this. And whose they are, in fact, one can only guess - not a single bandit, neither alive nor dead, could be found by yesterday evening.

The special operation began at about 7 a.m. with a missile strike on a militant base. How it was discovered and who exactly could be hiding there remained unclear yesterday. Local operatives said that the operation was developed by employees of the central office of the FSB, and not by local administration. One way or another, first the helicopters spent almost an hour “ironing” the area of ​​forest on the mountain slope where the militants could be hiding. After this, several special forces groups moved to the scene of the shelling. Having walked along the river bed and overcome almost a kilometer of thickets, they actually came to an abandoned camp. Judging by the scattered things and abandoned food, they left it in a hurry. According to official information from the Ingushetia FSB Directorate, “three grenades, three improvised explosive devices, medicines, as well as a large supply of food, clothing and household items” were found there. The amount of food found, according to investigators' calculations, should have been enough for about 20 people. The shelters set up in the camp could accommodate the same number of people - two stationary canopies and several ordinary tourist tents. From this it was concluded that the “defeated gang” consisted of exactly two dozen militants. Judging by the fact that a stationary kitchen was organized in the camp, according to operatives, the bandits intended to stay there for a long time.

However, the alleged militants did not wait for the special forces to arrive. Judging by the tracks, they left either before or immediately after the shelling began. Traces of blood found by scouts in the vicinity of the camp, in their opinion, confirmed that among them there were wounded, and possibly killed. However, it was not possible to obtain confirmation of this yesterday. The militants, if they really were there, were able to escape. Passport checks in the neighboring villages of Ali-Yurt and Surkhakhi also did not bring results. At the same time, the operatives admitted that the militants could have gone anywhere - both North Ossetia and Chechnya were not far from the site of the operation - and at any time. As a Vremya Novostey correspondent in Ali-Yurt was told, local residents knew about the operation the day before. The leadership of the special services specifically warned them not to go into the forest “to avoid problems.”

Eduard LOMOVTSEV