TWO FSB OFFICERS KILLED IN DAGESTAN

Itar-Tass reported that two officers with the Dagestani branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) were killed on March 14 when unidentified gunmen fired on their car with automatic weapons in the city of Khasavyurt. Police found a total of 80 submachine gun shell casings at the scene of the attack. Interfax reported on March 15 that a third officer was wounded in the attack.

The Associated Press, citing Chechnya’s Interior Ministry, reported that shots were fired from a passing car at a vehicle transporting soldiers in Chechnya on March 14, wounding one serviceman. RIA Novosti reported on March 14 that police discovered an, “operational rebel base,” near the settlement of Benoi in Chechnya’s Shatoi district. A Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman said that a large amount of food was found at the base, which was built to accommodate 10-15 people and belonged to the group headed by a field commander identified as Ramzan Saluev.

Russian news agencies reported on March 14 that one rebel and one policeman was killed during a special operation targeting the house in which rebels were hiding in the Stavropol Krai town of Neftekumsk. The suspected rebels, identified as the Ilyasov brothers, were reportedly members of the Caucasian insurgency’s Nogai Battalion who have been on federal wanted list since 2005.

A militant on the federal wanted list blew himself up along with a woman rather than be captured by police in Ingushetia, RIA Novosti reported on March 11. The militant, who opened fire on police when they attempted to enter a private home in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, refused to surrender and then blew himself up along with the unidentified woman.