"Novaya Gazeta" doubts involvement of sniper in repulsing attack in Chechnya

The military unit of the National Guard in the village of Naurskaya was attacked at night in the conditions of strong fog, and that fact cast doubt on the version that the attackers were killed in their heads from a sniper rifle, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reports. Its source also did not confirm the version about the detention and the subsequent shooting of the attackers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed that on March 29, the "RBC" reported that the people who attacked the National Guard of Russia in Chechnya took advantage of violations of military discipline. In particular, according to sources of the "RBC" in the National Guard and Chechnya, at the checkpoint, the on duty soldiers were asleep during the attack. A source of the "RBC" from the National Guard has explained the fatal wounds to the militants' heads by the fact that some of the attackers were "shot and killed by a sniper, a native of Dagestan."

The sniper, who killed some of the attackers, had to work in conditions of severe fog, the "Novaya Gazeta" reports on March 30.

"How possible is such quick and filigree work of the 'Dagestani sniper' in similar conditions?" asks Elena Milashina, the author of the article.

Besides, Elena Milashina notes that the sniper opened fire in the conditions of an armed clash, which made the accurate shooting difficult, and, meanwhile, the sniper shot in the heads of the attackers who were in different places, at the considerable distance from each other.

According to a source of the author of the article, the version that the killed men were earlier detained alive, has not yet been confirmed.

"No one detained the attackers. According to the testimonies given by their relatives, all of them left home three hours before the attack," the "Novaya Gazeta" quotes the source as saying.

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