On February 14-20, 22 persons were killed in armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

Within a week, on February 14-20, the glowing armed conflict in Northern Caucasus took away at least 22 lives; at least 39 persons were injured. These are the results of calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

The casualties include five civilians and five power agents, 11 persons, announced by the authorities to be the members of the armed underground, and one governmental official. At least 34 power agents and 5 civilians were injured. No data is available about wounded members of the armed underground.

During these seven days there were seven terror acts and explosions, seven armed clashes, one attempt on the life of an official. The counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime was twice announced in Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia. One terror act was prevented in Kabardino-Balkaria.

In Dagestan, 9 persons were killed and 32 injured. In Kabardino-Balkaria, the respective figures are 5 and 3. In Chechnya, 2 persons were killed. Six persons were killed and four wounded on the border of the Stavropol Territory and Karachay-Cherkessia.

Four out of the week's seven terror acts were committed in Dagestan, and three - in Kabardino-Balkaria. They killed ten persons: five civilians, three power agents and two suspected militants. These terror acts and explosions wounded 31 persons: 26 power soldiers and 5 civilians.

The biggest terror act was committed on February 14 in the Dagestani village of Gubden, where as a result of suicide bombings and shelling of the militia division there, three militiamen and soldiers were killed and 26 others wounded.

Even a greater public resonance was caused by the terror act in Kabardino-Balkaria, where three tourists from the Moscow region were shot dead and two more injured.

Crimes against civilians were committed in Dagestan. In Khasavyurt two women engaged in alternative medical treatment were assassinated, and a 5-year-old girl was seriously wounded. In Kizlyar, an explosion injured a keeper of a grocery store, and in the village of Novy Sulak a woman working in a grocery store suffered. Three explosions caused no casualties.

During the week, armed clashes resulted in 11 casualties and 8 victims; the former include 9 supposed militants and 2 militiamen. A major battle took place at the village of Belomechetskaya, Stavropol Territory. According to the latest data, five militants and one OMON fighter were killed there.

In three cases, skirmishes burst out at attempts to arrest militants: in the outskirts of Kizilyurt and Khasavyurt, Dagestan, and in the Chechen capital. They killed five suspected IAF members and wounded two power agents. Two militants surrounded by power agents a house in Grozny, according to official sources, committed suicide by blowing up their explosion belts.

In Nalchik militiamen mistakenly attacked their colleagues. In Makhachkala at the end of the week militiamen were shelled at the house of the head of the city UVD (Interior Department).

During the week, at least nine persons were detained on suspicion of involvement in IAFs or helping them: four in Moscow, three in Dagestan and two in Chechnya. One of them - a resident of Kizlyar, who was searched - surrendered, as power agents assert, although he said he was innocent. Another young man surrendered and confessed of helping IAF members, after he was urged to do so by MIA employees.

Besides, Chechen militiamen reported that they had tracked down and detained a man, who was in 1997 for a few months a member of Arbi Baraev's armed formation. In the Kizlyar District of Dagestan two unemployed men were detained, with Kalashnikov submachine guns on them.

Attacks on governmental officials also continue. In the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, unidentified persons shot dead Ramazan Friev, head of the village administration of Khasanya settlement, which is part of Nalchik. According to an anonymous source of the "Caucasian Knot", "some time ago it became known that Friev was hunted for by militants."