Chechen MIA: 300 militants have surrendered this year

About 300 members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) came to surrender to the law enforcement bodies of the Chechen Republic from the start of this year. Minister Ruslan Alkhanov announced the figure on Friday at the Collegium sitting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Chechnya. According to him, 53 militants were liquidated this year in the Republic, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Meanwhile, Chechen separatists inform in one of their web-sites that Russian authorities are understating the number of federal troop's servicemen who perished in fights against militants. Commenting the armed collision at the Kotar-Yurt village, separatists asserted that six persons were killed on the Russian side and over ten more wounded, while the militants suffered no casualties. According to official data, as a result of the skirmish with the militants two servicemen were killed and four wounded.

We remind you that after the armed collision in the region, an ineffective operation to search the attackers on the "Sever" special battalion of the MIA Internal Troops lasted for two days.

"After the skirmish took place here, the soldiers and militiamen blocked the area. Several persons were detained in the village outskirt. They were kept in custody for several hours and released only late at night," Israil, a citizen of the Kotar-Yurt village, told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot." "Four helicopters were permanently barraging the air and shooting the forest surrounding the village with missiles, then, a column of armoured machines arrived here," he said.