…AS SECURITY FORCES TARGET REBELS

Mokhmad-Amir Mutsaev, a leader of a jamaat (armed underground Islamic group) in the Groznensky district, was killed after offering “armed resistance” to police who were attempting to capture him, Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 29, citing a Chechen Interior Ministry officer. According to the source, the incident took place on January 28, when two armed individuals attacked a local resident in an attempt to steal his car and another resident tried to intervene but was mortally wounded. After police arrived on the scene, the two men attempted to resist, but Mutsaev was killed and his accomplice, identified as Aslan Gaziev, was captured.

Maj. General Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus, reported on January 28 that a “terrorist base” was destroyed and six militants, including two “Arab mercenaries,” were killed in southeastern Chechnya’s Nozhai-Yurt district. Meanwhile, Interfax quoted Russian military sources as saying that 23 militants had been captured and fourteen civilians had been killed in rebel attacks since the start of the year. Federal military sources said that 23 militants were detained in Chechnya in January. Fourteen civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks staged by guerrillas since the beginning of 2005.