Driver of "KamAZ" shelled in Ingushetia was not suicide bomber, his relatives asssert

Relatives of the driver of the "KamAZ" truck, which on January 18, under the official information of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ingushetia, rammed the militia cordon, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the truck had been shelled before it approached the cordon. They are indignant with the fact that Hasan Markhiev, 46, is assumed to be linked with militants.

The Department for Ingushetia of the Russian FSB has stated that at about 10:00 p.m. in Ordzhonikidzevskaya village, Sunzha District, the place, where earlier a militia UAZ van was blown up and which was cordoned by law enforcers, was approached by a "KamAZ" truck, which moved at a high speed. The DFSB asserts that militiamen tried to stop the truck, but it crushed into the service truck "Ural"; then, militiamen opened fire to defeat. Driver Hasan Markhiev later died from received wounds in hospital.

According to his son, militiamen in the cordon opened fire on Markhiev's truck, when it was at the distance of 100 meters from the cordoned place.

Hasan Markhiev was a driver with 40 years of work experience. By the moment of his death he had been working for 8 years as a driver of a special truck equipped with a fluorography unit for the Sunzha Central District Hospital (CDH) of Ingushetia, where his two daughters - highly-qualified doctors - also work. The fluorography truck is the only one in the republic.

Employees of the Suzha CDH characterized Markhiev positively to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, saying that he was a quiet and fair person, highly respected by his colleagues.

"Eyewitnesses told us that our father was shot dead without any warning. And he rammed the truck belonging to law enforcement bodies, when he was already mortally wounded," said Hamzat Markhiev, the casualty's son.

Hasan's relatives assert that the two shots at his leg and arm, from which he died, were made from forbidden weapon - with bullets with displaced centre of gravity. "Our father died right because of the use of such forbidden bullets, as the wounds of the leg and arm are not fatal by themselves," Markhiev-junior has added and explained further: "Besides, his body was kept in the truck cabin for half an hour, not letting anybody to come near and take him to hospital."

The MIA gives no comments; and no examination of the body was made - relatives did not admit it based on their "moral presentations."