The Nazran raid was a large-scale

raid Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male colleg ...

carried out in the

Republic of Ingushetia Ingushetia (; russian: Ингуше́тия; inh, ГӀалгӏайче, Ghalghayče), officially the Republic of Ingushetia,; inh, Гӏалгӏай Мохк, Ghalghay Moxk is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

on the night of June 21–22, 2004, by a group of Chechen (mostly) and

Ingush Ingush may refer to: * Ingush language * Ingush people The Ingush (, inh, ГIалгIай, translit=Ghalghaj, pronounced ) per Oxford dictionary "a member of a people living mainly in Ingushetia in the central Caucasus." Ingushetia is a federa ...

militants led by Chechen commanders

Shamil Basayev Shamil Salmanovich Basayev ( ce, Салман ВоӀ Шамиль ; russian: Шамиль Салманович Басаев; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006), also known by his kunya "Abu Idris", was a senior military commander in the Cheche ...

and

Dokku Umarov Doku Khamatovich Umarov ( ce, Ӏумар Хьамади кӀант Докка, translit='Umar Ẋamadi khant Dokka, ; russian: Доку Хаматович Умаров, Doku Khamatovich Umarov; 13 April 1964 – 7 September 2013), also known as ...

. Chechen main goal, besides capturing a large cache of weapons, was a show of strength. The attack by Chechen fighters on the Ingush city of Nazran is associated with the bad attitude of the Ingush authorities towards Chechen refugees.

Attacks

The overnight attacks targeted 15 government buildings in the former Ingush capital and the largest city,

Nazran , ''Näsare'') is the largest city in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. It served as the republic's capital in 1991–2000, until it was replaced with Magas, which was specially built for this purpose. It is the most populous city in the republ ...

, and three settlements located on the Baku-

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While ...

highway that crosses the republic from east to west ( Karabulak, Sleptsovskaya and Yandare). The targets of simultaneous attacks included the Interior Ministry (

MVD The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...

) headquarters with an arms depot, an FSB border guard unit, the

municipal police Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive fundin ...

headquarters, barracks of the

OMON OMON (russian: ОМОН – Отряд Мобильный Особого Назначения , translit = Otryad Mobil'nyy Osobogo Naznacheniya , translation = Special Purpose Mobile Unit, , previously ru , Отряд Милиции Осо� ...

special police, police stations and checkpoints. The attackers also tried but failed to free 50 prisoners from a temporary jail and dispersed at 3 a.m., before a column of federal army troops managed to reach Nazran just after dawn at 4 a.m.Rebels storm buildings on Russian border
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...

'', June 22, 2004 One Russian military convoy was also ambushed en route from

North Ossetia North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north' ...

and suffered casualties.46 killed in attacks on Russia government
''

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. ...

'', 2004-06-22 Witnesses to the attacks told Russian media that most of the attackers spoke the

Ingush language Ingush (; , , pronounced ) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 500,000 people, known as the Ingush, across a region covering the Russian republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya. Classification Ingush and Chechen, together with Bat ...

and wore masks and camouflage uniforms similar to those worn by the Russian police. The rebels patrolled Nazran, setting roadblocks and stopping motorists, asking to see their documents. Any law enforcement officials they encountered were then shot and killed, with exception of traffic policemen who were spared. The raid lasted nearly five hours, and the raiders withdrew almost unscathed and with two truckloads with 1,177 seized firearms. The Interior Ministry building and Nazran train station were burned down. Ingush officials said the rebels took some 20 hostages, mostly traffic police officers. The day before the attack, Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, speaking for

RFE/RL Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

, claimed rebels are "going to switch to offensive warfare". In July 2004, Maskhadov publicly accepted responsibility for the attack and promised more similar attacks.

Casualties

According to the official figures, 92 people were killed in the raid, including at least 47 police officials, a number later revised downward to 88. The final toll included 27 civilians, 26 policemen (24 Ingush and 2 Chechen), 10 special forces servicemen, 9 soldiers (6 Russian and 3 Ingush), 8 FSB agents, 5 employees of the local prosecutor's office, at least 2 guerrillas and 3 unidentified people. About 106 people were injured, including 51 members of government forces.John B. Dunlo
Beslan - Russia's 9/11?
The largest group of the dead were local police and other law enforcement officials, whom the rebels said they killed for collaborating with Russian security services in kidnappings and killings of Ingush civilians suspected of sympathizing with the rebels. The killed officials included the republic's acting Interior Minister Abukar Kostoyev, his deputy Zyaudin Kotiyev, Nazran city prosecutor Mukharbek Buzurtanov and Nazran district prosecutor Bilan Oziyev. A number of civilians, including the Ingush health minister and a local UN worker, were killed in the crossfire. Only 2 dead rebels were found in the morning after attack, according to

Kavkaz Center The Kavkaz Center (KC; russian: Кавказ-центр, Kavkaz-centr, lit=Caucasus Center) is a privately run website/ portal which aims to be "a Chechen internet agency which is independent, international and Islamic". The stated mission of the ...

website, the attackers lost 6 men killed. The KC statement also said that over 120 "servants of Russia" were killed in the attack and 30 policemen were captured.

Aftermath

Army General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, the Russian Deputy Interior Minister and the commander of Russia's

Internal Troops The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs (MVD) (russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел, Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del; abbreviat ...

(VV), decided to resign after Federal Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev blamed them for the high number of deaths. After Tikhomirov's resignation, the VV remained without a head for a month.The Internal Corps - The Kremlin's Private Army
/ref> Some 30 suspected rebels, mostly Ingush, were arrested in the next two months over their part in the Nazran raid. Several days after the September 2004

Beslan school siege The Beslan school siege (also referred to as the Beslan school hostage crisis or the Beslan massacre) was a terrorist attack that started on 1 September 2004, lasted three days, involved the imprisonment of more than 1,100 people as hostages ( ...

, Deputy

Prosecutor General of Russia The Prosecutor General of Russia (also Attorney General of Russia, russian: Генеральный прокурор Российской Федерации, Generalʹnyy prokuror Rossiyskoy Federatsii) heads the system of official prosecution i ...

Vladimir Kolesnikov Vladimir Ilyich Kolesnikov (in russian: Владимир Ильич Колесников, born 14 May 1948) is a Russian lawyer and politician. Kolesnikov was born in Gudauta, Abkhaz ASSR, Soviet Union. In 1995–2000 he was a First Deputy Inte ...

said 10 of the weapons stolen in Nazran were used in the Beslan attack. One of the demands of Beslan terrorists was also the release of the raid suspects. In 2005, 13 of them were convicted and sentenced to 8–25 years in prison.

Books

References

External links

War Comes to Ingushetia
Transitions Online, 28 June 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nazran 21st-century mass murder in Russia Operations of the Second Chechen War Terrorist incidents in Russia in 2004 Raid 2004 2004 in Russia Battles of the Second Chechen War Battles involving Chechnya Caucasian Front (militant group) History of Ingushetia Conflicts in 2004 Military raids June 2004 events in Russia Battles in 2004