Fighting in Chechnya and
repressive acts by Russian chastisers in Ingushetia
According to reports arriving from Argun town, the clashes of Chechen troops with
Russian bandit-terrorist formations were still continuing here on Saturday morning.
According to our information, there are victims among the civilian population.
According to the latest reports, the occupiers have lost more than 30 terrorists
in the battles in Argun. There is no information so far about losses on the Chechen
side. The reports about the fighting in Argun have been confirmed by independent
sources, in particular by one of the observers from the organization "Human Rights
Watch". Until 6 p.m. on Saturday, the intensity [of the fighting] remained the
same, and the sound of gunfire continued to be heard.
According to the inhabitants of the Ingush village of Arshty, a punitive special
operation by Russian bandit formations has been going on in their village since
Friday. The inhabitants say that the bandits break open doors, take people out
into the street and thrash them, maraude - all in all, they are doing what they
have become accustomed to do in Chechnya every day. According to the inhabitants
of the village, all their appeals to the President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov,
remain without attention. The Ingush government is apparently unable to control
the situation in their republic. Chechenpress reported several days ago that a
clash of Chechen troops with Russian bandit formations had taken place in the
environment of this popuated area. The occupiers suffered heavy losses in the
battle that lasted for more than five hours. Today's punitive operation is possibly
connected with this battle.
At dawn on Saturday, about 5 o'clock in the morning, Russian bandit formations
carried out an attack on a Chechen refugee camp in the Tsentr-Kamaz district in
Nazran. After they had surrounded the farms where the refugees live, the bandits
started with general searches of the rooms. They took the people out into the
street and checked their passports. A 28-year old young man from the village of
Tsotsin-Yurt was taken hostage.
The bandits carried out exactly the same operation on Friday, at another point
were Chechen refugees are concentrated in the outskirts of Nazran. This camp is
located on the road from Nazran to the village of Kantyshevo. Here, the bandits
took seven people hostage. Two of them were later thrown out in the area of the
Chechen town of Argun, the fate of the others is so far unknown. All the hostages
are inhabitants of the Chechen village of Tsotsin-Yurt.