NAZRAN – Russia said yesterday its forces had killed at least 20 insurgents in intense gun battles over the last two days in its Muslim-dominated Ingushetia region, where Moscow is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency.
“According to our latest figures, around 20 insurgents have been killed, but the number of dead could be higher,” said a police official in Ingushetia’s largest city, Nazran.
Violence is growing in the patchwork of southern regions – including Chechnya, the site of two separatist wars with Moscow since the mid-1990s, and Ingushetia – that make up the North Caucasus. Islamist militancy overlaps with criminal groups and clan and ethnic rivalries.
An Ingush police officer stationed close to the site of yesterday’s clash said Russian forces had fired at rebel positions from helicopters during an intense battle.
He added that the death toll included 10 from Thursday.
Eurasia analyst Matthew Clements, at London-based Jane’s Information Group, said the scale of the shoot-outs over the last 48 hours indicates more violence should be expected. Local leaders in Ingushetia, with a population of 300,000, say poverty and unemployment are fuelling the insurgency. Russia says al-Qaeda links also play a part.– (Reuters)