CHECHENS ATTACK CHECHENS.

On October 17, it was reported that the pro-Moscow police force of Chechnya–to be staffed largely by ethnic Chechens–will consist of 6,256 personnel. Of this number, 5,886 have already begun work. The force is being headed in an acting capacity by police colonel Akhmed Dakaev (RIA Novosti, October 17).

The same day Izvestia carried an article by journalist Evgeny Chubarov entitled “Terrorism without Weapons,” which reported that the previous day it had become known that, in the district center of Vedeno, the “permanent” department of internal affairs–that is, the pro-Moscow police department staffed with Chechens–had been subjected to a brutal assault. “A large group of armed rebels,” the newspaper reported, “beat up all the police employees who were present in the department and were all Chechens by nationality. As the twelve victims themselves relate, there were about twenty rebels who were armed to the teeth. As distinct from previous attacks on the police in Chechnya, this time the rebels did not shoot or blow anyone up.” The separatists broke into the department with such speed that the police did not have time to react. After terming the police “traitors” and subjecting them to a beating, the separatists then stole ten automatic weapons and five pistols and made their escape. The head of the Vedeno police force, Ramzan Abdurakazov, was subsequently sacked from his post for failure to avert the attack.