Russian Troops Kill 20 Rebels "Among those killed was Ali Demayev, a Chechen brigadier general"

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | Monday October 15 12:09 PM ET | YURI BAGROV

[Pericles]

Monday October 15 12:09 PM ET

Russian Troops Kill 20 Rebels

By YURI BAGROV, Associated Press Writer

NAZRAN, Russia (AP) - Russian troops killed 20 rebels and lost five men in scattered clashes with separatists in the breakaway province of Chechnya, officials said Monday.

Military officials also said attackers believed to be rebels fired on a civilian bus, killing six people near Argun, nine miles east of Grozny. However, they gave no further details and the shooting could not be confirmed with the rebels.

Also near Grozny, federal investigators were examining the bodies of 12 civilians found in a burial site who bore the signs of violent death.

The Russian commandant's office in Grozny said the 20 separatist fighters had been killed since Sunday as troops combed areas in southern and southeastern Chechnya, strongholds of the rebels.

Among those killed was Ali Demayev, a Chechen brigadier general described as a top aide to separatist president Aslan Maskhadov, who was shot inside his house in the area of Gudermes, Chechnya's second-largest city 19 miles east of Grozny.

Demayev, who served as Maskhadov's envoy to various field commanders, was killed in a ``carefully planned joint operation'' of Russia's Federal Security Service and defense and interior ministry troops, said the Russian commander in Chechnya, Gen. Vladimir Moltenskoi.

Troops also clashed with separatist fighters who attempted to break into the village of Ushkaloi in southern Chechnya in several vehicles on Monday. Two cars were destroyed and four rebels captured, the commandant's office said.

Russian forces also used aircraft and artillery to pound rebel positions in Chechnya's south and southeast.

Two Russian soldiers were killed in Chechen shooting attacks since Saturday, and three more died in Grozny in separate incidents when a truck and an armored personnel carrier hit land mines, according to military officials in Gudermes.

Interior troops in Grozny opened fire on two Chechens suspected of trying to plant a land mine, killing them in a subsequent shootout, said the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Chechnya won de facto independence after a 1994-96 war with Moscow. Federal forces returned three years later after militants based in Chechnya raided a neighboring Russian region and after bombings blamed on the separatists killed more than 300 people in Russian cities.

[Pericles]

Good hunting!

[KantianBurke]

20 down. couple million more to go.

[freedom_from_socialism]

Nuke 'em!

[AdvisorB]

Just another terrific human interest story. Keep em coming!

[Republic of Texas]

You know, wasn't too long ago that I was sympathetic to the Chechens. Never again will I be sympathetic to anything Muslim. I don't know what the terrorists were trying to accomplish, but with me, they have made an enemy for life. I hope, and suspect, I'm not the only one.

[Dengar01]

Anyone else notice how strange it is that the US, China and Russia all have common enemies, not eachother but Muslim extremists. The Russians have to deal with the Chechens. The Chinese have to deal with there own Muslim problem in China with terrorirst groups, and ofcourse we have our problem here. Just odd that the 3 biggest superpowers all have to deal with the same snakes. Well its better than fighting eachother, I don't feel like fighting a nuclear war with Russia and China, I'll stick with fighting the Muslim terrorists. Also shows how peaceful Islam is (sarcasm) and that Israel is not the focus of the Muslims it is pushing their religion on everyone else.

[undergroundwarrior]

Prior to Sept. 11, I would have sided with the Chechan's. I used to get upset when Israeli soldiers would blast away a Palestinian rock thrower.

Prior to Sept 11. Now I am rooting for the Russian Bear.

[dennisw]

I'm also backing the Russian bear. Paw those Chechnyans real good! Chechnya is on the map for the world wide Muslim Jihad. Bin Laden's network operates there.

[mikhailovich]

Bush: "This is not a war against Muslims" YET !!!!!

[looois]

They've been my enemy since 1453.

[Pericles]

I am proud to say I NEVER SYMPATHIZED OR SIDED WITH THE CHECHENS!!

[undergroundwarrior]

I even changed my views on Vlad Dracul.

[Republic of Texas]

I should have known by the sympathetic reporting of the Chechens that something was wrong there. I just never gave it much thought. Until now.

[Tasha]

You better change it again. Count Dracula was known as the innovator of the scorched earth policy. The people who were impaled and killed were not only Turks, but also his homeboys. There are even letters from guards where Dracula was imprisoned, who wrote of his constant demands for animals like chickens, which he tortured, and then impaled.
Count Dracula was nothing more than a psycopath, like Ted Bundy.
Sorry to burst that bubble, but Muslims were not the highest on Dracula's menu. It appears that his countrymen were.

[Naspino]

I've never felt closer to the Russians...

[Tasha]

It is much easier to understand someone, when you take a walk in their shoes. It appears that America is doing just that.

[samtheman]

You forgot to mention India. Maybe not a superpower, but a huge country with a big Muslim problem.

USA, Russia, China, India... there's a lot we don't have in common, but there is one big reason to form a Grand Alliance Against Islam.

[Egg]

I don't feel like fighting a nuclear war with Russia and China, I'll stick with fighting the Muslim terrorists.

  At least the Russians respected our nuclear arsenal and we theirs. Can you imagine dealing with a nuclear-capable band of muslim thugs?: "Go ahead, nuke us in return! We will have multiple virgins in heaven!"

That missile defense shield is sounding better and better...

[madrussian]

20 down. couple million more to go.

Not in Chechnya.