Ingushetia's President Returns To South Russian Republic After Assassination Attempt

Ingushetia’s Leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov leaved a plane on his return for the first time since an assassination attempt, at the airport near Nazran, Ingushetia, southern Russia, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009. Yunus-Bek Yevkurov arrived in the southern Russia region exactly two months after a suicide bomber attacked his convoy, badly wounding him and killing three bodyguards. The leader of Ingushetia is calling for a fight without mercy against terrorists. Photo from Suomen Kuvalehti

From RIA Novosti:

MAGAS, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - The president of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, returned to the southern Russian republic on Saturday, two months after he was almost killed in a suicide car bomb attack on his motorcade.

According to a source in the presidential administration, Yevkurov was going straight to the capital, Magas, from the airport for a special government meeting to address the current situation in the republic.

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More News On Ingushetia

Ingush leader returns home after assassination attempt -- Washington Post
Ingushetia leader to wage merciless fight against terrorism -- Kyiv Post
Fight against terrorism in Ingushetia to continue mercilessly -- Itar Tass
Russia Caucasus Violence -- Suomen Kuvalehti
Chechnya violence kills 4 police officers -- CBC
“Situation in Ingushetia grim but not hopeless” -- RT
Medvedev Seeks "Real, Not Cosmetic" Stability in North Caucasus -- Moscow Times

Ambushes And IED Attacks Increase In The Russian Cacausus

Militant Ambush Kills 10 Chechen Police -- Yahoo News/AP

NAZRAN, Russia (AFP) – Ten Chechen police were killed on Saturday when militants ambushed their convoy in the neighbouring Russian region of Ingushetia, one of the deadliest recent attacks in the increasingly volatile Caucasus.

The convoy of six vehicles came under grenade and gun fire from unknown individuals hidden in a forest as it travelled on a road in Ingushetia at around 0530 GMT, security officials said. One vehicle burst into flames.

"Forty-five members of the Chechnya police force were returning from a joint special operation when their convoy came under fire. Ten were killed and ten were wounded," an Ingush security source told AFP.

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Update #1: Two servicemen die, 5 get injuries in three blasts in Chechnya -- Itar Tass
Update #2: Chechnya burns homes to punish rebels - watchdog -- Alertnet

My Comment: As predicted, low level insurgency operations from Islamic radicals and separatist groups are now increasing in this part of the Caucasus during the summer months. The killing and wounding of 20 officers is testament to the effectiveness and deadliness of these groups.

These attacks are also occurring at the same time as Russia is conducting a major military exercise near the Georgian border. While the attacks in the north are not related to Georgia, I am sure that this heavy Russian military presence is creating a great deal of unhappiness and resentment in the entire region.

Chechen President Vows To Fight Ingushetia Rebels

From The Washington Post:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said he had been ordered by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to fight insurgents in the neighboring region of Ingushetia after its leader was gravely wounded in a bomb attack.

Kadyrov's harsh tactics have brought relative stability to Chechnya since he was elected in 2007 after more than a decade of war. But fellow Kremlin appointees have failed to stem spikes in violence in neighboring Dagestan and Ingushetia.

With Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov fighting for his life in hospital, Kadyrov said he had been ordered by Medvedev to run cross-border operations.

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My Comment: Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has always made it clear that this small province should be a part of Chechnya. With the main opponent of this merger now fighting for his life after an assassination attempt yesterday, and with the Russian Government making it clear that this insurgency must end, Chechnyan soldiers will now be entering Ingushetia.

Will this solve the problems in this region .... no. I will make the prediction that Chechnyan actions will only increase the resentment and anger in the region, thereby increasing support for the insurgency and its demands for independence.

Is Civil War About To Breakout In The Russian Province of Ingushetia?

President of the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov Photo: EPA

Kremlin-Backed President Of Ingushetia Wounded By Bomb -- The Telegraph

The Kremlin-backed president of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, has been seriously wounded by a roadside bomb, sparking fears of a Chechnya-style war in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region.

The assassination attempt on Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, seen as a moderating influence in the most unstable of the Russian Caucasian republics, left him fighting for his life.

He was admitted to hospital in critical condition, while at least four of his bodyguards were killed.

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More News On The Assassination Attempt On Ingushetia's President

Ingush leader wounded in suicide bombing attack -- Yahoo News/AP
Leader of Russian Region Is Attacked -- New York Times
Leading Russian survives assassination attempt -- CNN
Ingush leader badly wounded in assassination bid -- Yahoo News/AFP
Attack on Russian regional leader -- BBC
Ingushetia president survives assassination attempt -- The Guardian
Medvedev orders investigation of attempt on Evkurov’s life -- Itar Tass
Attack On Ingushetia President Latest In Troubling Trend -- Radio Free Europe
Trouble in the north Caucasus -- The Guardian

Russian Crackdown In Ingushetia

Nazran was the scene of a car bombing Wednesday that killed a senior police official of the Ingushetia region and six others. Investigators, left, inspected the debris left by the explosion. The official, Dzhabrail Kostoyev, was in charge of counterinsurgency efforts in Ingushetia. May, 2006 (Photo: Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

Russia Troops Launch Caucasus Crackdown After Attack -- Reuters

NAZRAN, Russia, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Russia's armed forces launched a counter-terrorist operation in the Caucasus region of Ingushetia on Saturday after an attack on a convoy of Interior Ministry troops.

State controlled Russian news agencies reported that two soldiers had died but a regional law enforcement source said 40 were killed in the attack, making it the most deadly in a recent series of attacks on troops in Ingushetia, a small territory bordering Chechnya.

"The soldiers didn't even manage to resist, because several rocket-propelled grenades hit their trucks," the source said, adding that three armoured personnel carriers and two trucks were hit by automatic rifle fire and grenades.

All but one soldier travelling in the convoy were killed, the source said.

News agencies quoted a spokesman for the region's Interior Ministry as saying two soldiers had been killed and five wounded. The agencies reported that one armoured personnel carrier and two trucks had been damaged in the shooting.

RIA Novosti quoted the regional prosecutor, Yuri Turygin, as saying the attack was carried out by as many as 20 fighters from Chechnya and Ingushetia.

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My Comment: This attack must have hurt the Russian Army .... they are moving very fast to find the men responsible for this attack.

The Russian Province Of Ingushetia Explodes In Violence

Troops engage in military exercises near the border of Ingushetia and South Ossetia
(Photo AFP)

Russian Troops Attacked, Report Claims 50 Killed -- AFP

MOSCOW (AFP) — A Russian troop convoy was attacked Saturday in the volatile Caucasus province of Ingushetia and an opposition website said around 50 soldiers had been killed, though officials confirmed only two dead.

Around 100 interior ministry troops were in vehicles travelling on a road near the village of Galashki when they were attacked with grenade launchers and automatic weapons by the gunmen, officials said.

A website run by opponents of Ingushetia's Moscow-backed administration, www.ingushetia.org, quoted unnamed local interior ministry and medical sources as saying that "around" 50 Russian soldiers were killed in that attack.

If confirmed, that figure would represent one of the most deadly strikes against Russian federal forces in the north Caucasus since the end of major combat operations in neighboring Chechnya several years ago.

The three main Russian news agencies and the main broadcast television stations, all either run by or strongly influenced by the Kremlin, however reported only that two soldiers were killed and nine others wounded.

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My Comment: Muslim separatists are now positioning themselves to start a long and protracted civil war in the Caucasus. This has all the makings of a long term insurgency.

Another Russian Province In Turmoil

Ingushetia Abuses 'May Spark War' -- BBC News

Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia is verging on civil war, a human rights group says, accusing officials of state-sponsored terror.

The Moscow Helsinki Group says the federal authorities in the Caucasus republic are engaged in kidnappings, torture and extra-judicial killings.

The authorities say they are fighting a war against terrorism.

Attacks against security forces - often carried out by Islamist militants - have intensified in Ingushetia.

Violence in the predominantly Muslim republic started during the war in neighbouring Chechnya in the late 1990s, when armed separatists began attacking government targets.

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More News On Ingushetia

Gunmen kill four soldiers in south Russia's Ingushetia -- RIA Novosti
Russian soldiers killed in Ingushetia -- ABC News (Australia)
Three killed, 2 wounded in Ingushetia, official targeted -- RIA Novosti
Bomb goes off at prosecutor’s house in Ingushetia -- ITAR Tass