Chechen military commandant's office denies capture of nine Russian soldiers by rebels

The Chechen military commandant's office rates the information about nine Russian servicemen taken prisoners in the Itum-Kale district in Chechnya spread by websites of Chechen separatist as disinformation. "We have no reports on the combats in the Itum-Kale district that allegedly took place there on March 14 and resulted in the capture of nine soldiers of federal forces. Moreover, this information has been denied by the regional headquarters on the counterterrorist operation in the North Caucasus. Had rebels really managed to take our soldiers prisoners, we would have known there names and other details by now. In my opinion, this is another information and propaganda canard circulated by bandit units it order to show they are still a serious force," a source at the military commandant's office said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent on March 24.

Meanwhile, residents of the district center Itum-Kale reported that a clash between Russian soldiers and a group of rebels really took place in the area on March 14, but they have no information about its results. Another indirect confirmation is the fact that the Russian air force and artillery massively shelled forest tracts and mountain gorges in the Itum-Kale district on the night of March 16. "Rebels must have really succeeded in capturing several Russian soldiers. We have not heard cannons roaring hear like this for a long time," said Nasruddin Magomadov, a 53-year-old resident of Itum-Kale.

Editors note: See also the article "Aslan Maskhadov to decide on destiny of Russian captive soldiers".