BRIEFS

–INTERIOR MINISTRY FORCES ATTACKED IN INGUSHETIA

An attack on interior ministry troops in Ingushetia killed one and injured four, RIA Novosti reported on February 12. According to Ingushetia’s Interior Ministry, the attack occurred on the evening of February 11 in the Suzhensky district village of Troitskaya when two unidentified persons fired automatic weapons at Interior Ministry troops who were returning to their base. One of the attackers was killed by return fire; a second gunman was wounded, but managed to escape.

–FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE ALLEGEDLY FINANCED NALCHIK ATTACK

The deputy head of the Kabardino-Balkaria Interior Ministry’s anti-organized crime department, Albert Sizhazhev, claimed on February 14 that last October’s attack in Nalchik was financed by foreign intelligence agencies. According to NTV.ru, Sizhazhev said the attack was organized by “ringleaders of the bandit underground of Kabardino-Balkaria” who “had the powerful financial support of foreign special services.” In January, he said, three “gang leaders” were killed in Anzorei, a village in Kabardino-Balkaria—one of them a Kabardino-Balkaria native, the other two from Chechnya and Turkey. According to Sizhazhev, among the items seized from the dead rebels were seven pistols taken during the rebel attack on the federal anti-narcotics branch office in Nalchik in December 2004 and “a system of satellite orientation.” According to Itar-Tass, the head of the religious affairs department of Kabardino-Balkaria’s Ministry of Culture, Dzhambulat Gergokov, claimed that the “bandit underground” in the republic was funded via non-governmental organizations working in Chechnya.

–KHASAVYURT ACTIVIST RELEASED FROM JAIL

The Khasavyurt City Court on February 13 released Khasavyurt human rights activist Osman Boliev, head of the “Romashka” organization, after he signed an agreement not to leave the Dagestani city, Prima-News reported. Boliev is on trial after being detained last November during a traffic stop and subsequently charged with illegally possessing weapons after a grenade was allegedly found on him. His lawyer claims police planted the grenade on him. Boliev’s arrest took place after “Romashka”” filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg over the October 2004 abduction of another Khasavyurt resident (see Chechnya Weekly, January 26 and December 8, 2005).

–MILITANTS REPORTEDLY NABBED IN CHECHNYA AND DAGESTAN

Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said on February 14 that a militant killed during a security sweep, Dzhabrail Abdurzakov, was Shamil Basaev’s “right-hand man,” Interfax reported. Abdurzakov was killed in Urus-Martan. Meanwhile, RosBusinessConsulting reported on February 14 that Dagestani security forces had captured a rebel “emir,” identified as Isa Mazhidov, during an operation in the village of Osmanyurt.