BRIEFS

–FEDERAL FORCES KILLED AND WOUNDED IN CHECHNYA

Kavkazky Uzel reported on June 21 that a bomb disposal expert with the federal forces in Chechnya was injured when an explosive device detonated on the road between the villages of Zamai-Yurt and Meskety in the Nozhai-Yurt district. Also on June 21, Itar-Tass reported that one federal Interior Ministry serviceman was killed and three were injured when their vehicle was blown up while it was traveling from the settlement of Gurzhi-Mokhk to the settlement of Dargo, also in the Nozhai-Yurt district. The news agency also reported that two rebel gunmen and three rebel accomplices had been detained over prior 24 hours, while two other had surrendered.

–DAGESTANI POLICE OFFICERS ASSASSINATED

The head of the Dagestani Interior Ministry’s Khasavyurt district organized crime department, Saigidsalim Zabitov, and a road police inspector, Shamsudi Kachakaev, were killed in an attack in the city of Khasavyurt on June 21. “A car carrying Zabitov came under fire at the intersection of Nekrasov and Pobedy Streets at about 12:30 a.m.,” the Dagestani Interior Ministry press service told Interfax. “Both policemen sitting in the car died from wounds on the spot.” On June 21, the 67-year-old prorector of the Dagestani State Pedagogical University, Vagab Minbulatov, also died in the hospital after being shot by an unknown attacker.

–MASKHADOV’S SON REPORTEDLY SEEKS ASYLUM IN GERMANY

Newsru.com, citing the Azerbaijani website Day.az, reported on June 21 that Anzor Maskhadov, the son of the slain Chechen president, had left the Azerbaijani capital of Baku for Germany, where he requested political asylum. In May, the slain rebel leader’s family requested political asylum in Finland, claiming they had been threatened in Baku, where they have lived since 1999 (Chechnya Weekly, May 11).