NAZRAN PROSECUTOR TARGETED

On August 10, an attempt was made on the life of Ingushetia’s Nazran district prosecutor, Girkhan Khazbiev. According to Newsru.com, a bomb went off at Khazbiev’s house in Nazran’s Oltievo municipal district at about 1 AM, Moscow time, after which he and members of his family went outside to see what had happened. At that moment, a second blast occurred. Khazbiev was not hurt in the attack, but his 27-year-old younger brother, Adam Khazbiev, was killed, and 13 other people, including other relatives of Khazbiev and people from neighboring homes, were injured. According to investigators, following the detonation of the two improvised explosive devices unidentified attackers tossed four hand grenades that exploded in and around the yard of Khazbiev’s house. Those injured in the attack had shrapnel wounds, and four of the 13 people injured were reported to be in grave condition.

Ingushetia’s deputy prosecutor, Dmitry Gurulev, was quoted as saying, “Over the last year and a half, the prosecutor’s office of Ingushetia intensified its work…exposing grave crimes. Khazbiev was threatened more than once in connection with terrorist cases, which he, as a representative of the state prosecution, had been handling as of late.” Gurulev added that along with the version that Khazbiev was targeted for his professional activity, investigators were considering the possibility that the attack was a more broadly demonstrative act of terrorism, given that the perpetrators had to know that “their explosive devices would lead to the deaths of other people besides the prosecutor.”

Kavkazky Uzel quoted an unidentified law-enforcement source as saying that the attack appeared to have been carefully planned and calculated to create the highest number of victims possible. “At the moment, only certain details of the incident are known to us,” the source told the website. “According to the testimony of witnesses, around 1 AM, an explosion occurred near the prosecutor’s home, after which a fire started. Relatives of Khazbiev and residents of neighboring homes began to gather at the site of the incident. At that moment, a second explosion took place.” According to the source, grenade pins were found at the scene along with “the remains of canisters which, in all probability, were used by the bandits for making the homemade explosive devices.”

Kavkazky Uzel noted that Girikhan Khazbiev’s predecessor in the post of Nazran district prosecutor, Belan Oziev, was killed in the June 2004 rebel attack on Ingushetia (Chechnya Weekly, June 30, 2004).