18:36, 29 June 2004

Militants planned to attack Magas

During militants' raid in Ingushetia, the bandits planned to deliver a missile strike on the new capital of this North Caucasian autonomy of Russia - the town of Magas, says a press release of the Regional Operational Staff for controlling the counter terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. The press release says that when the militants got a rebuff, they failed to fulfill the tasks that Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, the leaders of Chechen armed separatists, set them.

According to the Staff data, bandits abandoned an equipped position where four anti-tank guided missile launchers (ATGM) were installed. "Leaders of illegal armed formations who organized the attack on Ingushetia intended to use these weapons and shell the town of Magas. Thanks to the activity of federal units, the bandits failed to use ATGMs," says the press release. At present, law enforcement bodies are establishing channels through which bandits received this kind of weapons.

On June 22 bandits attacked state power facilities in Nazran, Karabulak and Sleptsovskaya.

Source: RIA Novosti