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28.6.2004 Chechen refugees return home INGUSHETIA, Nazran. (Russian-Chechen Friendship Society Information Centre). Ghelani Berdourov who represents pro-Moscow administration of Chechnya in Ingushetia, speaking today before the refugees in their camp in the village of Altievo in Nazran District, said that Chechnya would be unable to take back a large number of refugees. This was his reply to the question from a woman who asked whether in the nearest future Chechnya would be able to accommodate all the refugees living in disused cow-sheds in Altievo. It has been reported that Ingushetia’s Interior Ministry officers carried out a ‘hard-line clean-up operation’ in the refugee camp MTF Altievo on the evening of 23 June. 34 people out of tens of the arrested still remain in custody. This morning gas and electricity supply was cut off in the camp, and at 4 p.m. water supply was also cut off. The camp’s commandant Raisa Isaeva raised the issue, as well as that of the threats from militia to blow up the camp, with deputy head of Interior Ministry’s Authority for Migration Affairs Akhmed Tomov. But he said that there was nothing he could do as "the operation is in command of the security forces" and advised refugees to return to Chechnya as soon as possible. Refugees from Chechnya are leaving Ingushetia. It is mostly youths and men who are leaving. Tens of people have also left a refugee camp in the village of Yandar situated in the grounds of Nazran Agricultural College. "It’s better to die at home than endure torture and humiliation here," say the refugees returning home. Translated by Olga Sharp PRIMA-News Agency [2004-06-24-Ingush-03] 28.6.2004 Mass arrests in Chechen refugee camps INGUSHETIA, Nazran. (Russian-Chechen Friendship Society and NGOs Council information centres). 23 June shortly after 6 p.m. Ingushetia’s security structures in common with the Federal forces servicemen carried out a large-scale operation in the Chechen refugee camp in the village of Altievo in Nazran District. More than 100 Federal forces servicemen and Ingush militiamen with patrol dogs turned up in cars and buses at the refugee camp where more than a thousand people live in converted cow-sheds and service buildings of a dairy farm. Among the militiamen, officers of Nazran District Internal Affairs Department were also seen; the Department suffered big losses during the attack by Chechen mojaheds on the night of 21 June. The militiamen blockaded the camp and did not allow anyone inside the cordon saying that "Russian laws don’t work" inside the zone of operation. They opened random fire in the air and on the walls of the buildings for intimidation. According to the eye-witnesses, the pattern of security forces’ actions was this: people were ordered out of the premises they lived in, the military spent some time inside, then walked out with hand-grenades and camouflage uniforms and arrested the men who lived there. So far, about fifty people are known to have been arrested. The refugees state that the confiscated objects have been deliberately planted. During the operation the camp’s residents were beaten, and some women were made to partly undress in the presence of men. 17-year-old Alikhan Khasanov had undergone a liver operation several days previous. When the military were pushing the youth towards the cow-shed exit, his grandmother tried to help him. She and other women were beaten with butts of rifles and thrown on to the tarmac. During the operation the officials of Nazran District Internal Affairs Department told refugees that they would "blow up everyone here" if they didn’t leave the camp within the next 24 hours. At the same time in MTF-2 refugee camp in the village of Troitskaya of Sounzhen District, Interior Ministry officers arrested all the male residents — around 30 in total. According to Russian-Chechen Friendship Society Information Centre, early morning of 24 June relatives of the refugees arrested in the village of Altievo gathered outside Nazran Town Internal Affairs Department. But militiamen dispersed the crowd shouting: "You should have come out on the night of 21 June when people were being murdered here!" In the refugees’ opinion, anti-Chechen mood is inflamed my statements from high-ranking officials and members of Ingush authorities. Speaking on the local TV, a representative of Ingush Prosecutor’s Office said that the militants who carried out the attack are hiding out in Chechen refugee camps. Translated by Olga Sharp PRIMA News Agency [2004-06-24-Ingush-03] 1 Killed, 3 Wounded as Blast Hits Cafe in Chechen Capital 28.06.2004 MosNews One person was killed and three others were wounded after a bomb exploded near a cafe in the Chechen capital Grozny on Sunday night, the Interfax news agency reports. The agency cited an official representative of the Regional Operative Headquarters for the Northern Caucasus, Major-General Ilya Shabalkin, as saying that a homemade anti-personnel bomb exploded near a cafe in the city outskirts late on Sunday night. The bomb’s power is estimated to be about 800 grams of TNT. The cafe owner, R. Arsanov, was killed by the blast. 3 of the customers sustained various injuries and were all taken to a city hospital. A group of investigators are working at the scene of the explosion, a federal spokesman said.