Five persons lost in shootout in Gali District of Abkhazia

Today, in the Gali District of Abkhazia, which borders on Georgia, a shootout broke out in the course of a special operation, in which killed five persons were killed. As reported by Raul Lolua, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia, the death toll includes an employee of the Special Missions Centre of the State Security Service of Abkhazia and a Russian border guard.

The incident occurred around 11:00 a.m. in the village of Rep, Gali District. According to Lolua, apart from the above two casualties, three attackers were killed, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

This night a local resident was kidnapped in one of the villages of the Gali District, but he managed to escape. In connection with his appeal to law enforcement bodies, a special operation was undertaken with the aim to arrest the criminal grouping, which, according to the above head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Abkhazia, "was engaged in robberies and kidnappings of locals to extort ransom for them."

A criminal case was opened on the assault on the life of a law enforcer and illegal arms trafficking, the "Apsnypress" reports.

On November 4, 2014, the President of Abkhazia Raul Khadjimba admitted, in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot, the presence of a complicated criminal situation in the Gali District, and, in particular, frequent kidnappings with further claiming ransom.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.