12:36, 4 March 2004

Two passers-by suffered in exchange of fire between security agents and criminals in Nazran

Two residents of Ingushetia were wounded in the center of Nazran during a detention of a man suspected of membership of illegal armed units. The operation to destroy the rebel with the use of automatic weapons was conducted in one of the busiest districts of the town in the presence of numerous passers-by.

Witnesses of the incident find difficulty in saying which of the sides opened fire first. However two locals who turned out to be not far from the site of occurrence at that moment are known to have been taken to a local hospital with several gunshot wounds.

Doctors say the condition of a 25-year-old woman is extremely grave. The Ingush Interior Ministry refused to give comments on the occasion, saying the operation to detain the rebel had been conducted by officers of the Russian Federal Security Service department in Ingushetia.

Author: Malika Suleymanova, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot