CAUCASUS….
Four soldiers from the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Dagestan in the Russian Caucasus died in a battle with Chechen guerrillas inside Dagestan on August 2. The Interior Ministry claims seven guerrillas were killed and four wounded. The guerrillas were apparently Islamic fundamentalists waging a town-by-town struggle to replace Russian Federation authorities with Islamic councils. At least three Dagestan towns are already under such control. In Makhachkala, the regional capital, authorities acknowledge that the situation is “extremely complicated and tense” and complain that Russian Federation forces have not protected Dagestan from “armed formations from the adjacent territory.”