BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jan 14, 2003
Groznyy, Russia, 14 January: Ten corpses were found in a rural area in Chechnya.
Law enforcers say that they are likely to be the bodies of people who were
kidnapped and killed by rebels.
"Bodies and body parts are scattered over an area of about 1 ha. It is presumed
that these people were killed with an explosive device; they were simply
blown up," Chechen prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko told Interfax today.
He said two of the bodies that were found near the Chechen capital of Groznyy
have been identified by relatives and acquaintances. "One of them is the
manager of the Sovetskaya Rossiya state farm, who was kidnapped on 23 December
last year. The other man is a local resident who has been registered as
missing since 1 January," Kravchenko said.
The other bodies were impossible to identify because only fragments of them
remained, he said. But some hands have been found, and so finger prints
will be taken. "It is difficult to establish how long ago all of the victims
died. But it didn't happen over the past few days," the prosecutor said.
The main theory is that all of the people were kidnapped and killed by rebels.
"This theory is supported by the fact that none of those killed were registered
as missing. Apparently, the relatives had been making their own efforts
to find them. As an established practice, this is done when the kidnappers are
of their own people, the Chechens," Kravchenko said.
Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1621 gmt 14 Jan 03
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