Chechen MIA: search of militants in the mountains failed

Law enforcers have failed to find some of the militants who were blocked on January 8 in the mountainous Vedeno District of Chechnya. The power agents do not exclude that about ten militants could break through the cordon and hide at one of their mountain bases.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a group of militants of about ten fighters strong was detected on January 8 near the village of Tevzen-Kale, Vedeno District of Chechnya. The total number of the members of the armed underground killed in shootouts with power agents has reached five persons. The Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has announced the name of one of them - Sharip Kerimov, a resident of the village of Yalkhoi-Mokhka, Kurchaloi District. According to operative data, the casualty was a member of the detachment of the field commander Makhran Saidov.

"The search of the bandit group, or rather of its remains, detected in forested mountainous area of the Vedeno District gave no results. Apparently, the bandits, as they usually act in such situations, split into small groups of two or three and managed to slip out of the blocked district. This was facilitated by the weather conditions - thick fog and rugged terrain, making it very easy to move and hide," said a source from local law enforcement bodies.

"Judging by the actions of the enemy, they are quite professional and well-trained fighters; and, apparently, one of the influential emirs was among them; at least, one of the bandits was identified as a member of the grouping of the field commander Makhran Saidov, also known as Makhran. As to militants Khanif and Shatral, we can't rule out that they could be with this; however, at this point there are no compelling evidences to support this information," said the source.

Let us remind you that "Shatral" is, as power agents assert, the call signal of Usman Muntsigov, one of the organizers of the militants' attack on Tsentoroi, the family village of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on August 29, 2010. Then, several law enforcers of the Chechen Republic were killed and wounded.

According to the source of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the search is complicated by the militants' excellent skills of orienting on the terrain and knowledge of the tactics of guerrilla warfare.

"Militants are using the tactics of special troops: they mine the approaches to their bases, leaving only narrow paths in the form of a labyrinth; and once the base is detected, they quickly move to a new location. Each bandit grouping has two or more thoroughly masked bases; they can be underground dugouts in thick forests or inaccessible caves in mountain gorges. During the pursuit, one or two militants remain to cover the rest of the grouping, giving them a chance to escape," said the power agent.

"In terms of training and use of weapons, everything is OK with them. Also, for all this time I've never seen a completely exhausted bandit; it indicates that their foodstuff supply chain, as well as everything else, operates properly," said the source.