Russia Attacks Raise Concerns in Chechnya

[DC09]

MOSCOW - The blazing rebel attacks in Ingushetia herald a renewed attempt by militants to carry the Chechen war into neighboring regions, drawing Russian troops deeper into the troubled Caucasus even as the Kremlin was trying to distance itself from the military morass in Chechnya.

The attacks, which killed 92 people, also appeared to be an attempt to galvanize the anger that has long simmered among Russia's Muslims over abuses and discrimination.

Some 1,000 fighters participated in the near simultaneous assaults Monday night on 15 police and border guard facilities and other targets in Nazran, Ingushetia's main city, and a handful of other settlements, regional officials said Wednesday.

Sixty-seven of the dead were members of law enforcement agencies.

Ingushetia had seen little of the fighting raging in Chechnya, its neighbor to the east. The last time the nearly 5-year-old war spilled into Ingushetia was an incursion in a remote area in October 2002.

Ingushetia once was united with Chechnya in a single republic, but it broke off as leader Dzhokhar Dudayev whipped up separatist fervor in the 1990s. It declared itself firmly a part of Russia.

As Chechnya plunged into two wars interspersed by three years of lawlessness and de facto independence, Ingushetia appeared comparatively stable and progressing in fits and starts toward a degree of prosperity. The Ingush government built a new capital city, Magas, including a gleaming airport. Tens of thousands of Chechens fled to the republic after the second Chechnya war exploded in 1999.

In an effort to bolster Ingushetia's role as an antidote to Chechnya, the Kremlin made the republic a free economic zone to boost investment. It also threw its support behind Murat Zyazikov, a former high official of the Federal Security Service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, who was elected president of Ingushetia and entrusted with bringing order.

But beneath Ingushetia's thin glaze of stability, the republic's residents have been plagued by increasing fear. Scores of mysterious abductions and disappearances have been reported in recent months, and suspicion has fallen on Russian security forces.

After a short lull this spring — apparently sparked by some media attention — the abductions resumed about 10 days ago, and Ingush say that for the first time young women have been among those seized.

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