Residents of Stavropol Territory report details of shootout with militants

The farmyard of Balki, near which an armed clash broke out on March 14, is a very quiet place, populated mostly by pensioners, said local residents, noting that they heard loud shots at night of the special operation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that tonight, the law enforcement bodies received the information about two armed men near the farm yard of Balki in the Shpakovsky District. Both suspects were killed in the exchange of fire with law enforcers, no one else was injured, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reports. According to the NAC, the killed suspects were natives of the Volgograd Region, who joined the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court, and came to the Stavropol Territory to organize a terror act.

The armed clash occurred near Balki, a source from the Russia's National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on March 15, however, refusing to specify the exact location of the special operation.

Shots were clearly audible in Mikhailovsk, local residents told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The special operation took place literally at the entrance to the district centre," said Tamara, a resident of Shirokaya Street in Mikhailovsk, located close to the farmyard.

According to her story, several loud claps were heard at night. "Rather, it looked like explosions of firecrackers. It lasted a few moments. I thought that some fireworks were blowing up, although there was no firework in the sky," she has explained.

"The area where the special operation took place is very quiet; there are no young people here and mostly old people live," said Igor Sergeev, a resident of Voikov Street in Mikhailovsk, located near Balki. "There are no Muslim communities and no mosques here. Basically, everyone knows each other," he said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 15, 2019 at 07:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.