REBELS ATTACK WOUNDED KADYROVTSY

Disregard of the Geneva Convention and other rules of civilized warfare has long since become routine on both sides in Chechnya, as was shown again on October 31 by a deliberate attack by separatist guerrillas on wounded servicemen of the republic’s pro-Moscow administration who were on their way into a Grozny hospital. A car bomb exploded just outside the city’s Hospital Number Nine just as the wounded were arriving, according to a report by the Associated Press. The bomb’s victims reportedly included not only the pro-Moscow servicemen, but also several hospital workers and a child.

The injured military personnel were members of the feared “presidential security service” headed by Ramzan Kadyrov. This force has, of course, committed equally gruesome atrocities against the separatists, and also against unarmed civilians.