INDEPENDENT NEWS

Kavkaz News: Radio Liberty Correspondent Kidnapped

Published: Mon 31 Jan 2000 10:19 AM
Kavkaz news for 36th-30th January: Russian's accused of kidnapping Radio Liberty correspondent - West Acciused of East Timor double standard - General Malofeyev dies in captivity in Grozny - and much more...
Transcript from ..http://www.chechnya.xnet.is/ the official news agency of the Chechen rebels....
TRANSCRIPT BEGINS
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January 30, 2000
No fresh news from Kavkaz-Tsentr
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January 29, 2000
Kavkaz-Tsentr reports:
Bitter fighting continues in Dzhokhar. Now the most ferocious ones take place around the Akhtayev stadium (former Ordzhonikidze stadium): A large armoured column yesterday moved towards it from the direction of Karpinsky Kurgan. The Mujahideen attacked it with mortars and RPGs. Having lost 4 armoured vehicles and 3 'Urals' the Russians retreated.
There was also combat action near the Republican hospital, the 13th school, the tinning factory, in the 6th micro-district, and in Chernorechye. The Mujahideen attacked in Tashkala for the second time in three days.
According to General Khamzat Gelayev the Russians in Dzhokhar are loosing 100-300 every day. During the last 24 hours about 200 aggressors have been killed, 9 armoured vehicles have been destroyed.
In this same period 7 Mujahideen died, 11 have been wounded.
In the occupied territories the Russians are abducting and shooting people. In the Naursky district about 400 people have been carried off - in the districts of Achkhoy-Martan and Urus-Martan about 500, in Shali 200, and in Gudermes 170. In the Argun and Sunzha districts about 700 people have been arrested and brought to unknown places.
According to eye-witnesses hundreds of peoples have been executed and buried in clandestine operations in the steppes of Shelkovsky district, in Naursky district and in the Stavropol region.
Despite all Russian attacks, the Chechen Mujahideen are in control of the gates to Argun Valley and Vedeno Valley.
A group of Russian tanks accompanied by 100 Spetsnaz troops tried to assault a tactical height by outflanking the Chechen positions. The Mujahideen attacked and in three hours of combat managed to repulse the enemy killing 50 men. One T-80 was knocked out.
Near Serzhen-Yurt the fight is at a deadlock. The Russians try to bombard the Chechen positions. Yesterday Russian fighter planes bombed Serzhen-Yurt for 5 hours. 2 Chechen fighters were killed in action.
The Chechen vice-president Vakha Arsanov comments on the position of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe regarding Chechnya. He says that the Chechen leadership never pinned it's hope on international organizations like the UNO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, etc.
He accuses the west of applying different standards to Muslim and to non-Muslim countries. In East Timor the whole christian world backed the desire for independence from Muslim Indonesia – but with respect to Muslim Chechnya it tolerates not only Russia's colonial policy but also the most horrible atrocities and war-crimes.
Where is Babitsky? The Russians ministry of defence claims not to know the fate of the correspondent of Radio Liberty. But according to sources of Kavkaz-Tsentr the native Russian Babitsky has been arrested by Russian forces and is kept in captivity by them in occupied Urus-Martan. He had left Dzhokhar on January 15th or 16th together with some Mujahideen who then lost the contact to him. According to Kavkaz-Tsentr the Russian ministry of the interior a few hours ago confirmed the apprehension of Babitsky.
The situation in the refugee camps in Ingushetia is becoming worse and worse. Especially children are suffering infectious diseases. The Russians are denying medical aid. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion about 400 children died in the refugee camps.
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January 27, 2000
Kavkaz-Tsentr reports:
The intensity of the fights in Dzhokhar doesn't decrease – combat activities continue at all parts of the front. Large Russian units continue their efforts to move into the town and to fortify themselves in new positions.
The Mujahideen apply the proved tactics of urban warfare.
According to the Chechen capital's Defence Staff several Russian armoured columns and 500 Spetsnaz soldiers moved toward the area of the Southern bus station. The Mujahideen attacked and knocked out 5 armoured vehicles. In two hours of fighting significant parts of the Russians have been wiped out. Remnants of the Russian units sought shelter in former a department store but were forced out during the night.
The last days the Russians mainly use units of 50-100 men whose task it is to conquer single blocks.
One of these units comprising about 100 men entered the settlement Maas (former Kalinin) after having crossed Sunzha River wading. The Mujahideen attacked and annihilated the unit. Only 20 men are said to have escaped alive.
General Aslambek Ismailov eulogized the high fighting morale and ability of co-ordination of the defenders of the town.
The battle in the Argun Valley continues. The Mujahideen are resisting there an amount of about 40,000 Russian troops with all their materiel attacking the Chechen positions continuously. The most bitter fights take place near Duba-Yurt.
The Russians several times tried to move from Alkhazurova towards the village Surat but have been repulsed. The Russian airforce and artillery attacks the Chechen positions. Thousands of civilians are trying to escape the fighting zone but are being hindered to do so, because the Russians are raking with fire the roads in the area.
There is information from Grozny that General Malofeyev finally died from the wounds he received during a Russian bombardment of his place of captivity. The Kremlin's story of the burial of Malofeyev in Russia remains mysterious. The Chechen command insists on its version that Malofeyev the whole time has been in Chechen captivity.
In the Sharoy District static warfare continues since one and a half month. Since then the Russians according to the Chechen command lost about 500 men there, 40 trucks and armoured vehicles have been destroyed.
During the last 24 hours there were bitter fights near the alpine village Day. The Chechens attacked the entrenched Russians several times. The Chechens are in control of the tactical heights there.
The mothers of the boys in the Russian special concentration camp in Naursky District are denied to visit their children. This is being justified with a corresponding direct order from Moscow.
One woman managed to save her 12 years old boy from being captured by paying 5,000 Rubles. Seven children are said to have been shot in the concentration camp; torture is a common practice there.
The villages in the mountainous South of Chechnya have been bombed extraordinarily during the last 24 hours. The Russian put into action Scud rockets (SS 21C), too. More than 230 civilians died, most of them women and children.
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January 26, 2000   (en français)
Kavkaz-Tsentr reports:
The battle for Dzhokhar is going on. About 100,000 Russian soldiers have been concentrated around the Chechen capital. The Russians continue their feverish efforts to assault the Chechen positions in the suburbs of the town – the Russian command doesn't keep its promise to spare the life of their conscripts.
Yesterday the Russians made chaotic attempts for break-throughs into the centres of Chernorechye and Michurina. In both places they have been repulsed and lost about 160 men.
In Staraya Sunsha, in the 3rd Micro-District and near the tinning factory the combat actions were less intensive than during the last days. The Chechen Mujahideen attacked the Russians there and in Staraya Sunsha forced them to flee to their former positions.
During the last day the Russians suffered more than 270 casualties in Dzhokhar. 12 armoured vehicles have been destroyed, 2 trucks with equipment were captured.
On the Chechen side 7 Mujahideen died, 12 fighters were wounded.
The Chechen vice-president Isa Astamirov has been killed in the fights for Dzhokhar. Astamirov was commanding a unit of the south-western front.
The Russian general Malofeyev, captured by the Chechens, is still alive. The medical service of the Chechen forces is doing its best to save his life, while the Kremlin's propaganda units arrange the burial of a Pseudo-Malofeyev.
The Chechen command presents an official list of the casualties of the Russian and of the Chechen forces. According to this list since the very beginning of the Russian invasion about 11,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. About 500 tanks and armoured personnel carriers have been knocked out. 12 airplains were shot down, 40 helicopters have been shot down or damaged.
During this periood te Chechen army lost more than 400 Mujahideen, 420 fighters were wounded.
In compliance with the Chechen command the ammount of dead civilians exceeds 10,000. About 320 villages and towns of Chechnya have been totally or partially destroyed.
In the occupied territories the mass-apprehensions of civilians continue. According to a great number of eye-witnesses the Russians arrest Chechen men an bring them to unknown places. Hundreds of Chechens have been shot. In the Naursky and Shelkovsky District in the West of Chechnya concentration camps have been set up – among them the special boys' camp reported about yesterday. According to some informations there are other camps in the Stavropol Region and in North Ossetia.
In the Naursky and Urus-Martan Districts more than 70% of the population's houses have been plundered by Russian marauders. A great part of the booty has been brought to Mozdok and Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia).
A Chechen special unit has attacked Russian units beyond the Dagestani frontier. The Chechens attacked a Russian camp in Botlikh District, Dagestan. 15 Russian marine infantrymen have been killed, 2 BTRs have been destroyed. The Chechen retreated without having suffered casualties.
Shirazudin Ramazanov, the prime minister of the Islamic Leadership of Dagestan, gives notice of the activities of Dagestani volunteers in Chechnya. Only this year 645 Mujahideen from Dagestan enrolled in the Chechen army or in the 'Peacekeeping Army of the Islamic Congress of Chechnya and Dagestan'. All in all 1,700 Dagestanis are fighting in Chechnya, 350 men are just being trained.
Ramazanov says that the Islamic Leadership of Dagestan is well aware of the activities of the criminal clans in the State Soviet Dagestan's capital Makhachkala. He says that a second phase of 'Operation Hamzat Bek' to liberate Dagestan is being prepared.
TRANSCRIPT ENDS

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