2004 Nazran raid
| Nazran raid | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Second Chechen War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Caucasian Front Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Abukar Kostoyev † Zyaudin Kotiyev † Sergei Koryakov
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Shamil Basayev Ali Taziev Dokka Umarov
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| Strength | |||||||
| Unavailable | 50–600 (most probably about 200) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| More than 60 killed | Light (at least 2 killed) | ||||||
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Civilians About 25 killed |
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The Nazran raid was a large-scale raid carried out in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia, on the night of June 21–22, 2004, by a large number of mostly Chechen and Ingush militants led by the Chechen commander Shamil Basayev. Basayev's main goal, besides capturing a large cache of weapons, was a show of strength.
The overnight attacks targeted 15 government buildings in the former Ingush capital and the largest city, Nazran, and three settlements located on the Baku-Rostov highway that crosses the republic from east to west (Karabulak, Sleptsovskaya and Yandare). The targets of simultaneous attacks included the Interior Ministry (MVD) headquarters with an arms depot, an FSB border guard unit, the municipal police headquarters, barracks of the OMON 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 the column of federal army troops managed to reach Nazran just after dawn at 4 a.m. One Russian military convoy was also ambushed en route from North Ossetia and suffered casualties.
Witnesses to the attacks told Russian media that most of the attackers spoke the Ingush language 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.
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Wikipedia