Guerrilla fighting continues in Chechen mountains

The mountains of Chechnya are still the most difficult terrain for the Russian military in carrying out so called "counter-terrorist operation" as the bulk of Chechen resistance fighters have been concentrated there for several years.

Because of the unstable situation in the Nozhay-Yurt, Vedensk, Shatoy, Itum-Kali and Sunzha districts, the Russian army maintains numerous troops and military equipment there. And in all large mountain villages, there are military command posts, which try their utmost to administer Russian laws.

As for the Chechen police, the partisans do not take them very seriously for the police often surrender to avoid fighting; the partisans set them free in response, after confiscating their weapons.

Yet when the guerrillas battle with Russian military or police forces, both the sides usually take casualties.

One such battle took place on Thursday evening on the outskirts of Itum-Kali when a small group of guerrillas ran into some soldiers from the local command post. One soldier died and four others were wounded in the brief skirmish, according to sources in Chechen security agencies; no information was given about guerrilla casualties.

The guerrillas were most likely a part of the group belonging to Chechen field commander Ruslan Gelayev, who clashed with Russian special forces near the village of Kharsenoi on Wednesday. According to the military, three guerrillas were killed and ten wounded; however, sources close to the guerrillas claimed that it was actually twelve Russian soldiers that had been killed.

While shoot-outs usually take place in the mountains where guerrillas can easily hide and find shelter, in the lowlands they resort to laying land-mines.

This method still appears to be successful as recently. On a road leading to Grozny, a Russian armored personnel carrier has recently ran over a mine that injured six soldiers, two of whom eventually died in the hospital.