"Russian troops killed in ambush in Caucasus" by Reuters | October 19, 2008
NAZRAN, Russia - At least two Russian soldiers were killed in an ambush in the Caucasus region of Ingushetia yesterday, authorities said, and unofficial sources said the death toll could be much higher.
A spokeswoman for the regional Interior Ministry said a 10-vehicle column of Russian troops was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic gunfire, which killed two soldiers and wounded nine. The spokeswoman disputed a report from a regional law enforcement source who said 40 Russians had died in the ambush.
Now that is MAJOR!!!
Interior Ministry troops sealed off the area to search for the attackers, making independent confirmation unfeasible. Russian television showed vehicles stopped at police checkpoints. It was one of the most serious in a recent series of attacks on troops in Ingushetia, a small territory bordering Chechnya. A toll of 40 would make it the most deadly.
I'm smelling "Al-CIA-Duh" all over this!
Ingushetia, a poor, mainly Muslim republic, has suffered from an overspill of violence from the wars in neighboring Chechnya. Moscow is struggling to contain an insurgency by Islamic militants who regularly kill officials in ambushes and bomb attacks.
The law enforcement source said all but one soldier in the column was killed in yesterday's attack. "The soldiers didn't even manage to resist, because several rocket-propelled grenades hit their trucks," the source said, adding that three armored personnel carriers and two trucks had been hit by automatic rifle fire and grenades.
The Interior Ministry spokeswoman said the convoy had come under fire between the villages of Muzhichi and Galashki, about 15 miles east of the regional capital, Nazran, and almost within sight of the border with Chechnya.
Troops were checking vehicles at the border. A Muzhichi resident, reached by telephone in the hours after the attack, said troops had sealed off the village and were checking passports while two helicopters circled overhead.
An opposition website said that the toll was far higher and that troops had been killed in two separate attacks. About 50 soldiers died in the first attack, the website said. Two more were killed when another convoy, sent to reinforce the first, came under attack, it added. --more--"
Why can't we just leave Russia alone?
