One militant was killed in a firefight with federal troops in southeast Chechnya

Thursday, September 24, 2020

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One militant was killed in a firefight with federal troops in southeast Chechnya, while four suspected militants surrendered to authorities in various districts of Russia's troubled North Caucasus region, local police said Wednesday. A unit from the Vostok battalion and police encountered a group of up to five militants in a forest near the village of Dzhaney-Vedeno Tuesday. In the ensuing firefight, one militant was killed and the rest managed to escape, a police source said. No casualties among federal troops were reported. Police seized a Kalashnikov assault rifle, several F-1 hand grenades, ammunition and a radio at the site. Meanwhile, four suspected members of illegal armed groups surrendered to police in the last 24 hours in various districts of Chechnya. They allegedly fought against federal authorities between 1995and 2003. Following the killing of Chechnya's leading terrorist, Shamil Basayev, on July 10, 2006, Russian authorities announced a partial amnesty July 15 for militants who were not involved in major atrocities. A law granting amnesty to militants and servicemen guilty of offenses during the North Caucasus antiterrorism campaign came into force in late September 2006. More than 300 militants have accepted the surrender offer since its announcement, mainly in Chechnya, according to Nikolai Patrushev, head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and the National Antiterrorism Committee. In a separate operation, police seized an arms cache in southwest Chechnya, which contained one artillery round, two mortar rounds and 69 kilograms (about 150 pounds) of TNT. Although the last war in Chechnya officially ended in 2001, periodic bombings and clashes between gunmen and federal troops still disrupt the republic's relative calm, with the violence often spilling over into adjacent regions.

Bookmark One militant was killed in a firefight with federal troops in southeast Chechnya