Highway from Makhachkala to Buynaks
Today there were two well-executed terrorist attacks against government officials in Dagestan, a southern province of Russia. Dagestan is Russia's southernmost republic and borders the war-torn province of Chechnya. Although Chechnya is more peaceful than at any time since 1994, a few separatists still want to shatter the fragile peace in the region. Terrorist gunmen ambushed two state officials and their bodyguards in two separate roadside attacks. As a result, the General Prosecutor (prokuror) of the city of Buynaks is dead, the head of the Dagestan’s police force was severely injured, and several policemen and innocent civilians were killed.
The first attack began a few minutes after Bitar Bitarov, the general prosecutor for the city of Buynaks, left home for work. Terrorists detonated a roadside bomb near Bitarov's Mercedes 600 sedan and two other cars carrying his bodyguards. After detonating the bomb, terrorists opened fire on the convoy with machine guns. The general prosecutor lost his arm in the explosion and was shot several times. Mr. Bitarov died from his wounds a few hours later in a nearby hospital. Mr. Bitarov’s driver and bodyguards were also treated in the emergency room.
When he heard about the first attack, Adilgerey Magomedtagirov, Dagestan’s chief of regional police (MVD), immediately left the regional capital of Makhachkala to personally investigate the crime scene. The main highway from the capital of Dagestan to Buynaks is under construction, so the police chief’s convoy took a detour.
A few minutes after getting to the highway, the police chief found himself under attack. Terrorists planted an estimated 150 kilograms (320 pounds) of explosives under the road and set them off with devastating effect. The police chief’s lightly armored vehicle was blown off the ground, crashing back to the shattered pavement. Again the terrorists raked the highway with machine gun fire to kill the survivors. Fortunately, most of the blast was absorbed by the rear of the police chief's vehicle, so the driver was able to floor it and get out of the “kill zone”. Unfortunately, several police vehicles, a large truck, and a car filled with civilians were shot up by the terrorists. Two policemen and a woman were killed. Several more officers and civilians were wounded. Thirty minutes later, reinforced police unitsand MVD SWAT teams arrived at the scene of the second attack, but all they found were shell casings on both sides of the road and leftover wiring from the bomb. The terrorists had escaped.
A BTR armored personnel carrier at the crime scene
With air support from three helicopters, Russian security forces began a manhunt for the attackers. No suspects have been caught yet; the search continues today. For Russia this a painful reminder that in spite of the successful counterinsurgency in Chechnya, the terrorists can still launch deadly attacks in the rest of the Caucuses. The rugged Pankisi Gorge that borders Chechnya in the independent former Soviet republic of Georgia is a well-known hide-out for terrorists, largely due to the fact that it isn’t secured by Georgia and isn't under Russian jurisdiction. Since 2002, U.S. Special Forces and Marines have been training the Georgians, but more cooperation between Georgia, Russia and the U.S. is necessary to stop the terrorists throughout the Caucuses.
Comments
But just a little while ago, you wrote that Chechnya was peaceful due to Russian efforts! Looks like you were mistaken.
Posted by: Lenard | August 11, 2006 4:14 AM
Lenard,
Chechnya and Dagestan are two different autonomous states within the Russian Federation. That would explain much lesser concerns with security in Dagestan, or lets say St Petersburg, versus Chechnya. Chechnya is still very peaceful due to Russian and Chechen efforts.
Posted by: Yuri Mamchur | August 11, 2006 9:12 AM
Yuri, am I to understand you to be saying that the terorrism in Dagestan has nothing to do with Chechnya or Russia's inability to control the terrorists there?
Posted by: Lenard | August 11, 2006 1:07 PM
Lenard, we said that Chechnya is as peaceful as it has been since 1994, which is true. The important thing is that the task of reconstruction in Chechnya can begin and not be hampered by constant attacks and sabotage like in Iraq. This should give our readers hope that jihadist violence can be defeated - five years ago more Chechens had fled their country as refugees than Iraqis today, and the violence was arguably worse than in Iraq now - certainly the infrastructure damage from widespread bombing was worse.
Posted by: Charles Ganske | August 11, 2006 5:03 PM
Charles, you haven't answered my question. Please do so. Or is it that you find Yuri's statement about Dagestan indefensible?
Then, do you mean it's true that Chechnya is peaceful because you say it's true? Can you cite me to a published report comparing the level of violence over the years in a scientific way and concluding that it has never been more peaceful now, or are you relying on your own feelings about the matter?
Here's some evidence of Chechen peacefulness:
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060812/52549808.html
GROZNY, August 12 (RIA Novosti) - A gunman has been killed in a firefight with police forces in central Chechnya, the republic's Interior Ministry said Saturday. A police unit conducting a reconnaissance operation in the mountains in the Shali district, about 12 miles southeast of Grozny, engaged a militant who offered resistance, the ministry said. Local police officers also found an arms cache near the village of Chechen-aul in the Grozny district with about 200 kilograms of explosives.
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Posted by: Sunil Ram/Bodyguards | October 25, 2006 3:54 AM
Peaceful? Who knows ... it's kind of hard to go there without being beaten up / shot ( and that's just the Russians! )
Posted by: Tony | January 24, 2008 10:27 AM