Posted on 08/22/2003 7:57:16 AM PDT by RussianConservative
VLADIKAVKAZ - Dozens of masked gunmen burst into a medical clinic near Chechnya and kidnapped five residents of the war-battered Russian region as they waited to see a doctor, police said Friday.
Some 30 to 40 masked gunmen burst into the polyclinic at the Sunzha district hospital on Thursday, according to the Interior Ministry of the region of Ingushetia, next to Chechnya. Threatening to fire their weapons, the gunmen forced five people who were in the clinic's waiting room into two trucks. The gunmen are believed to have shot one of the captives with a pistol, and a doctor was injured by a blow to the head with a rifle butt, the ministry said.
A ministry official said on condition of anonymity that police believe the attackers were members of the security service of Chechnya's Moscow-appointed acting president, Akhmad Kadyrov.
Kadyrov's press service strongly denied the allegation, saying it could be an attempt to taint Kadyrov's image ahead of the Oct. 5 presidential election in Chechnya.
Residents of Chechnya and Chechen refugees in Ingushetia say the security service, headed by Kadyrov's son Ramzan and believed to number in the thousands, robs, kills and kidnaps civilians with impunity.
Kadyrov, a former mufti who sympathized with the separatists before switching sides, is running in the election, but many Chechens distrust him. Some Russian rights groups predict he will use fraud and pressure to ensure his victory.
Russian officials are touting the election as a key step toward restoring peace.
In a statement distributed Friday, 28 Chechen non-governmental organizations said they would boycott the vote and warned voters to expect fraud.
In another appeal, 31 prominent Russians challenged President Vladimir Putin on his refusal to negotiate with rebel leaders.
"Mr. President, what number of Russian servicemen and civilians killed by military action, punitive operations or suicide terrorists would you consider horrifying enough to begin negotiations on ending the war with the opposition, the political leaders of the Chechen separatists?" asked the signatories, who included Yelena Bonner, the widow of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov; Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group; and lawmaker Sergei Kovalyov.
In Grozny, about 300 residents of the Vedeno region blocked the road in front of the civilian administration for the sixth day in a row, demanding the release of residents detained during recent operations there.
"There won't be any presidential elections until they return the people they've kidnapped, until they stop kidnapping and killing in this republic," said protester Maina Abubakarova from the village of Markety.
Meanwhile, nine Russian servicemen were killed by a remote-controlled land mine on a road outside the Chechen capital, Grozny, the Interfax Military News Agency reported, citing a source in the military's headquarters in Chechnya.
Russian forces have been bogged down in Chechnya since 1999, when they returned to the region after rebel raids on a neighboring region and a series of deadly apartment-house bombings in Russian cities that were blamed on the rebels. Before that, they fought a 1994-96 war with the separatists that ended in a cease-fire and de facto independence for the region.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.