26 December 2003, 22:51
Dagestani, not Chechen militants fight in Tsuntinsky district
The officer of Chechen law-enforcement agencies, Abubakar Makhmudov, declared it in his interview with the Caucasus Times agency.
"The fact that large forces engaged in the operation in Dagestan have not succeeded in uncovering and destroying the militants for almost two weeks points that they are dealing with the people who are perfectly at home in the area and are supported by locals," Abubakar Makhmudov holds.
In his opinion, local gangs of Wahhabi persuasion - Jamaats - still exist in the mountainous districts of Dagestan. "One of these groups was sighted in the Tsuntinsky district simply by accident, making a nose. All this has been shifted onto "Chechen bandits" as usual to calm down the public," the officer thinks.
A group of militants, from 30 to 50 people in number, was disclosed in the Tsuntinsky district of Dagestan on December 16. The operation to search for and liquidate the separatists is still being conducted.
Almost immediately, the Russian mass media called what was happening as a "new invasion by "Chechen" militants into Dagestan."
The other day chief of Akhmad Kadyrov's security service, Ramzan Kadyrov, also expressed doubt at the assertion that only Chechens fought on the territory of Dagestan.
Editors note: See also the article "40 bandits believed to be holed up in Dagestani mountain cave".
Source: Caucasus Times Website
