Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis

Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye crisis
Part of the First Chechen War
Date January 9–18, 1996 Location Kizlyar and Pervomayskoye ()-Sovetskoye, Dagestan (Russia) Result Chechen separatists managed to escape Pervomayskoye and return to Chechnya
Belligerents
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria	Russian Federation
Commanders and leaders
Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov Salman Raduyev Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev Aidamir Abalayev	Mikhail Barsukov Anatoly Kulikov Viktor Zorin
Strength
200, later about 400	More than 3,000
Casualties and losses
Estimated 96 killed (153 killed according to Russian sources)	Estimated 200 killed
Estimated 26 or more civilians killed

The Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis, known in Russia as the terrorist act in Kizlyar (Террористический акт в Кизляре), occurred in January 1996 during the First Chechen War. What began as a raid by a force of Chechen separatist guerrillas led by Salman Raduyev against a federal military airbase near Kizlyar, Dagestan became a hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians, most of whom were quickly released. It culminated in a battle between the Chechens and Russian special forces in the village of Pervomayskoye (), which was destroyed by Russian artillery fire. Although the Chechens escaped from the siege with some of their hostages, at least 26 hostages and more than 200 combatants on both sides died.

On January 9, 1996, a force of about 200 Chechen guerrillas led by Salman Raduyev, calling themselves Lone Wolf and allegedly acting on orders by Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev (although Dudayev would later deny it), launched a raid similar to the one triggering the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis. The city of Kizlyar in the neighbouring republic of Dagestan, the site of the first Imperial Russian fort in the region (and many historical battles), was chosen as the target due to its proximity and easy access of two miles from the Chechen border across flat terrain. The guerrillas began the raid with a nighttime assault on a military airbase outside Kizlyar, where they destroyed at least two helicopters and killed 33 servicemen, before withdrawing.

At 6 am, pursued by Russian reinforcements, the withdrawing Chechen fighters entered the town itself and took hostage estimated 2,000 to 3,400 people (according to official Russian accounts, there were "no more than 1,200" hostages taken). The hostages were rounded up in multiple locations and taken to the occupied city hospital and a nearby high-rise building. Field commander Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov later said that he took command of the operation from Raduyev after the latter failed in his mission to destroy the airbase, an ammunition factory and other military and police installations in and around the city. At least 46 people died on January 9.

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