GLASNOST - MEDIA

A mop up operation was carried out in Alkhan-Kala village of Groznenski district during the April 10-15 period. On April 11 federal troops detained 15 men suspected of taking part in combat actions. On April 12 the federal servicemen tricked the village administration head Malika Umajieva into signing a statement that the mop-up operation had been carried out in accordance with Commander Moltenskoi's order. They promised her to leave the village as soon as she signed the document. When she did so they returned to the suspects houses. Some of the suspects were badly maimed and others executed. They shot dead Ilyas Utsiev, the 30-year-old brother of the head of the administration, and 36-year-old Vakha Shakhabov. Their relatives hid others.

When Malika Umajieva and the village elders approached the federal servicemen to remind them of Gen. Moltenskoi's orders, demanding that mop-up operations be carried out in the presence of the elders and clergy, they ignored their protests. The head of the administration said that the operation was led by Igor Bronitskiy.

On April 16 the villager residents held a rally demanding that justice be done to the murderers, saying their victims had nothing to do with terrorism.

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