Militants who perished last week in Chechnya committed suicide rather than were liquidated in assault, eyewitnesses assert

The two members of the armed underground, whose liquidation was reported on April 25 by the republic's authorities and power agents, blew themselves up after they ran out of ammunition, but not killed in the course of the special operation, said the head of one of the republic's public organizations (NGOs).

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about some details of the special operation held on April 25 in the Zavodskoy District of the Chechen capital against suspected militants, who were blocked in an apartment house, from the head of a local NGO, who asked not to mention his name. According to his story, the militants, surrounded by the units of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), were not killed during the operation, but blew themselves up with grenades.

"The operation against militants Bekkhan Dadaev and Musa Tashtamirov was held in one of the apartment blocks located next to the former central marketplace in Grozny. It passed not in the manner that the power agents later reported," says the source.

He asserts that apart of a huge number of power agents from various bodies, armoured vehicles were involved in liquidation of the two militants.

"The apartment, where Dadaev and Tashtamirov were hiding was attacked from a variety of weapons, even from heavy machine guns from APCs (armoured personnel carriers). At the same time, visitors and personnel of one of the nearby cafes were blocked inside; they were not allowed to leave the dangerous zone. It is only in the words of our law enforcers that before a special operation they evacuate people, take all necessary measures to ensure public safety and so on. The reality, as a rule, is very far from their stories," he said.

"Neither Tashtamirov, nor Dadaev were killed in the assault. They just blew themselves up with grenades, after they ran out of ammunition."

"There was no assault as such. They (power agents) just surrounded the house in Chernyshevskogo Street and shelled the window of the apartment, where the militants were hiding, from everything they had. The cordoned the place and let nobody in. Then, we heard some explosion in the apartment; and later we learned that the militants blew themselves up with grenades, when their ammunition was over in order not to get into the hands of security forces. I guess they knew what awaited them if they were caught alive," said Murad K., a resident of Grozny.

The republic's law enforcement bodies refused to make any comments on this issue, saying only that there was no difference how the militants had been liquidated. "No matter how these bandits had been killed; the main thing is that they could not commit their planned terror acts and bring harm to people," said a Chechen police officer.