Briefs

Chechen Rebel Attacks Kill Four Policemen and a Civilian

Chechnya’s Interior Ministry reported that three policemen and a civilian were killed and four other policemen and four local residents were wounded late on November 22 when rebels detonated a radio-controlled landmine in the village of Sadovyi near the Chechen capital Grozny. The Associated Press reported that another police officer was killed on November 22 by rebels who ambushed his vehicle near the southern Chechen village of Gekhi.

Dagestani Militants Kill Two Policemen

Police in Dagestan reported on November 24 that two riot police officers were killed and three wounded in a clash with militants in the republic. The Associated Press quoted Mark Tolchinsky, a police spokesman, as saying that the gun battle erupted in the village of Kaka-Shura on November 23 after a group of unidentified militants opened fire on a police patrol. Agence France-Presse reported that the incident took place in the town of Karabudakhent, which is located about 15 kilometers from Kaka-Shura. In a separate incident the same day, police said seven people were wounded by gunfire in Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, after a group of young men started a fight in a local cafeteria (see Mairbek Vatchagaev’s article in this issue).