VILLAGERS MURDERED IN INGUSHETIA

A group of unidentified gunmen killed two people and seriously wounded a man and a woman during a January 20 attack in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya in Ingushetia’s Sunzhensky district, which borders Chechnya. Citing Ingushetia’s Interior Ministry, RIA Novosti reported that the gunmen, who were wearing masks and camouflage and were armed with automatic weapons, burst into one of the village’s houses and shot the residents. Kavkazky Uzel on January 21 quoted an unnamed high-ranking Ingushetian government official as saying that the attack may have been carried out both as a robbery attempt and an attempt to destabilize the republic.

Meanwhile, Interfax reported on January 20 that the head of a ten-man rebel group allegedly loyal to Shamil Basaev and Dokka Umarov had been arrested along with two accomplices at a temporary camp for refugees in Ingushetia. A law enforcement source identified the arrested rebels as Timur Pereulidze, born in Georgia’s Akhmeta district, Ramzan Umatkhanov from Grozny and Sultan Adamov from Chechnya’s Urus-Martan district. Pereulidze is alleged to have been involved in the murder of a police officer in Ingushetia’s Nazran district and planting bombs to protect rebel hideouts.