Russian media have been reporting over the past week that large-scale security operations are continuing in Kabardino-Balkaria and elsewhere in the North Caucasus following the October 13 rebel attacks in Nalchik. Gazeta reported on October 26 that Ramazan Tembotov, a local legislator from the village... MORE

Novaya gazeta correspondent Anna Politkovskaya wrote in the biweekly's October 20 edition that the main reason for the Nalchik attack was that the "oppression" of Muslims in Kabardino-Balkaria had reached such a level that the "local jamaats—that is, the religious communities (only don't confuse them... MORE

Four servicepersons were killed in the outskirts of Nazran, Ingushetia, on October 26 when unknown gunmen fired on their car with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, RIA Novosti reported. A source in the press service of the republic's Interior Ministry said three officers, including a... MORE

Dagestani Interior Minster Adilgerei Magomedtagirov told reporters in Makhachkala on October 25 that three rebels—Gadzhimagomed Ismailov, Murad Lazkhiyalov and Makhach Rasulov—had been killed in a special operation conducted by security forces in the Dagestani capital, the Regnum news agency reported. On October 24, Dagestani law... MORE

Vakhid Murdashev, one of the four associates of Aslan Maskhadov who were with the late Chechen separatist leader when he was killed last March 8 in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt and are now being tried by the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic, told the... MORE

Chechen rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev issued a decree on October 25 restructuring the separatist government's ministries. The decree, which was posted on the separatist Chechenpress website, was aimed at "making more effective the work of ministries and agencies temporarily located outside the Chechen Republic of... MORE

--EIGHT PARTIES REGISTERED FOR CHECHEN ELECTIONS The Chechen parliamentary campaign got underway on October 22, with eight political parties having registered candidates for the November 27 election. As the Moscow Times reported on October 24, the pro-Kremlin United Russia party placed three confidants of Chechen... MORE

The attack on Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, on October 13 again demonstrated the unpredictability of the Chechen or, more accurately, Caucasian insurgency. When Chechen separatist leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev in May issued a decree establishing the Caucasian front, independent observers and Russian security officials alike... MORE

Kavkazky Uzel reported on October 19 that a total of 92 rebel gunmen were killed on October 13 during the attack on government and law enforcement buildings in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. RIA Novosti reported that day that a total of 24 law enforcement officers died in... MORE

Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basaev claimed responsibility for the October 13 Nalchik raid in a statement posted on October 17 by the separatist Kavkazcenter website. The "full-scale assault operation against the Russian occupation forces and their stooges" was carried out by some 217 "mujahideen" who... MORE