GROZNY. Dec 14 (Interfax) - A six-year-old girl has been seriously injured by a lighter containing explosives in Chechnya. The girl found the lighter in the street. When she began playing with it, it exploded, ripping both of her hands off. Law enforcement agencies are currently working on determining who made the lighter. There is information that there may be more such lighters in the area

http://www.chechenpress.info/news/12_2003/5_14_12.shtml (my tr.)

In Chechnya, seven-year-old girl was wounded by explosion of a Russian booby trap

According to reports from the Chechen sources a litle girl was wounded by explosion of a booby trap, disguised as cigarette lighter. Mine exploded in the hands of the first-grader of the Alpatovo secondary school - Aset Makhomadova, tearing off her both palms. In grave condition the girl was delivered on Saturday to the Naur central district hospital.

We repeatedly have warned inhabitants of Chechnya about the fact that the Russian occupiers to intimidate CHRI population, from time to time disguise many booby traps as everyday objects and throw them up in places where there's a lot of people. Their potential victims -, first of all, are children and adolescents, since stuffed with explosives, these objects are bright, colorful when seen and attract attention of the youngsters.

14.12.03

Dec.15, 2003

Police disperse human rights rally in Moscow

Moscow police on Monday dispersed a protest rally by human rights activists in support of ex-FSB officer Mikhail Trepashkin, who stands accused of defamation of state secrets, abuse of power and illegally possessing ammunition. Several representatives of the public committee in defence of Mikhail Trepashkin were detained and delivered to a district police station. The rally was to be held near the court building where hearings into Trepashkin's case started on Monday. //Ekho Moskvy//

Gunmen from Chechnya take hostages after gunfight

Monday, December 15th, 2003

By ARSEN MOLLAYEV, Associated Press

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) - At least 25 gunmen crossed from Chechnya into the neighboring Russian region of Dagestan on Monday, killing at least three border guards and seizing hostages in a remote mountain village, officials said.

The gunmen attacked a border guard unit on the internal frontier between Chechnya and Dagestan, killing at least three servicemen and wounding 10 others before entering the Tsunti district village of Shauri, said Roman Shchekochikhin, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry branch in southern Russia.

Shchekochikhin said the attackers seized 30-40 hostages at a school, but Basyr Magomedov, head of the Tsunti district administration, said on state-run Rossiya television that the attackers were holding an unspecified number of hostages in a 50-bed hospital, while a Dagestani emergency official said the attackers had left Shauri, taking three hostages with them.

They were headed back toward Chechnya, said Yusup Koichukayev, a duty officer with the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Dagestan. The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted a spokesman for the Russian military in Chechnya, Vasily Panchenkov, as saying the attackers took three hostages in Shauri, but he did not say they had left the village.

According to Muslim Tsupmilov, a spokesman for the Federal Security Service's border guards agency in Dagestan, nine servicemen were killed in fighting with the gunmen, who officials said crossed the border hours before dawn.

Interior Ministry and border troops were headed to the area, but it is remote and hard to reach, Shchekochikhin said.

The current war in Chechnya began in 1999 after Chechen rebels carried out attacks in villages in western Dagestan and after the Kremlin blamed militants for apartment-building bombings that killed some 300 people in Moscow and other Russian cities.

http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/russ/article.php?id=14896 (my quick tr.)

Mujahadeen conducted a special operation in the mountains of Daghestan

A representative of Chechen command  reported over the telephone Kavkaz-center about a successful combat operation of Daghestani and Chechen soldiers in the alpine Avar settlement of Shauri. In the vicinity of this settlement a large force of occupational formation from the composition of the so-called Frontier post is stationed.

According to the source, in the morning on Monday, the mujahadeen attacked occupiers, after arranging an ambush on the way of their movement. The reconnaissance of mujahadeen reported preliminary information about the destruction of 11 occupiers and wounded not less than 9 aggressors.

The source reported that this is a preliminary information and it's possibe there's more casualties on the side of aggressors. It's expected to link radio communication with the force of mujahadeen, which is located on the territory of Daghestan and it's further planning measures against the Russian occupational formations.

2003-12-15 13:46:15