One person lost and three wounded in an attempt on President of Ingushetia

According to updated information, in the attempt on President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov,  сommitted today in the morning in a Nazran suburb, the President and his two securities were wounded, and his driver Mustafa Kotiev, 25, perished.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at law enforcement bodies of the republic that the incident took place at about 8:40 a.m. Moscow time in Tsentr-KamAZ district in an outskirt of the city of Nazran.

"The President in one of several cars of his cortege was on his way to his residence in the city of Magas. A powerful explosion occurred when the cortege was on the road, by which the leader of Ingushetia and his three bodyguards were wounded. One of the securities died on the way to hospital," said a source in law enforcement bodies.

Later it became known, that it was Evkurov's driver Mustafa Kotiev, not a security, who died.

By a version of power agents, the explosive could be triggered by a suicide bomber, who supposedly was in a Toyota car parked on the road shoulder. Practically nothing remained from the blown up car.

"The President's armoured car was also strongly damaged. So strongly that it is difficult to believe that someone of its passengers could survive," said the source of the "Caucasian Knot".

Now, the health condition of Yunus-Bek Evkurov is estimated as medium gravity and causes no fear in doctors.

"President of Ingushetia received a craniocerebral trauma and a leg fracture. Now he is in the surgical ward, and his health condition is of medium gravity," a source at the Nazran Republic's Clinical Hospital said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He has added that President's brother Uvais Evkurov was also wounded but is alive. He is provided with the necessary medical help.

The place of the incident is cordoned by law enforcers, and an investigatory-operative group is at work there.

In the Ramenskoe air field near Moscow an air transport Il-76 of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies is ready to take off. In a couple of hours it will land in Beslan, where the victims of the attempt will be brought in reanimobiles. Kaloy Ahilgov, Evkurov's press secretary, has reported that the President will also fly to Moscow to get his treatment there.

Mikhail Grishankov, first deputy chair of the security committee of the State Duma, believes that the attempt on President of Ingushetia is directly linked with his resolute actions to force militants out of Ingushetia.

"This insolent crime is a challenge to the order that the President had started to set in," said Mr Grishankov.

According to his story, reported by the "Interfax", Evkurov launched an "uncompromising activity" of putting things in order in his republic. The MP has noted that prior to Evkurov's presidency militants "felt rather relaxed" in Ingushetia.

In the context of the attempt, President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev has sent his plenipotentiary envoy in the Southern Federal District Vladimir Ustinov to Ingushetia.

At his meeting with the head of FSB Alexander Bortnikov and Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev, President Medvedev treated the terror act as "bandits' actions". In Mr Medvedev's opinion, additional steps to strengthen law and order are a must.

The investigation of the case is now under personal control of the Public Prosecutor of Russia Yuri Chaika, the ITAR-TASS reports.

Mr Chaika has ordered his deputy for the Southern Federal District (SFD) Ivan Sydoruk and heads of the local department of the Russian Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) to go to the place of the incident and report him from there about the course of investigation on a regular basis.

Power structures consider the issue of introduction of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime in the territory of Ingushetia, as the "Gazeta.Ru" writes. "Now, an extraordinary sitting is on in the capital of Ingushetia of the heads of power agencies, who consider possible CTO regime for the republic," said a source in power agencies of the SFD.

Let us remind you that the CTO regime assumes a number of temporary restrictions and regime measures, for example, check of documents, reinforced protection of public order, tapping of telephone conversations and even temporary resettling of people out of the CTO zone, as well as restriction of motor traffic and pedestrians' travels. Then, the CTO regime can be lifted by the decision of the operative headquarters of the local FSB department and Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

Presently, in Ingushetia and in neighbouring Chechnya, broad-scale operations are conducted against members of armed underground groupings, however, the situation in the republic is still extremely unstable, which is confirmed by the chronicle of terror acts, shellings and kidnappings committed there.