10:46, 17 October 2005

Bomb wounds three in Chechnya

A vehicle with servicemen of the Zapad ("West") battalion was blown up in Chechnya's Grozny district yesterday. The incident occurred several kilometres from Pobedinskoye, according to a source with republican law enforcement and security agencies. Three servicemen were wounded as a result.

"A home-made explosive device was planted by unidentified persons on the roadside and triggered at the moment a vehicle with special unit servicemen was going by," a source with Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry said.

It should be noted that one of the units of the republican Counter-terrorist Centre (the former Chechen presidential security service – ed.) is stationed in Pobedinskoye (local residents call this unit "Baisarovtsy" by the surname of its commander, Movladi Baisarov). There is information that there have been repeated armed clashes between the Baisarovtsy and the Kakiyevtsy (the Zapad battalion commanded by Hero of Russia Said-Magomed Kakiyev). Reportedly, there have been casualties on both sides.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent