Militants stormed parliament in Russia’s conflict-torn Chechnya yesterday, holding deputies and gunning down guards, before being killed in a bloody standoff with security forces.
The group of up to four militants broke into the parliament building in the Chechen capital Grozny early in the morning, killing four people and sparking fears of a major hostage crisis before security forces moved in.
Officials said that all the militants were killed. Reports added that some had been shot dead, while others had killed themselves by detonating suicide charges.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“We heard shots in the courtyard and we knew they were trying to take us hostage. We managed to take refuge on the third floor where we stayed until the end of the operation,” said Zelim Yakhikhanov, spokesman for the Chechen parliament.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov told the Interfax news agency that Chechen security forces staged an intense 20-minute operation to kill the militants and free the parliament deputies and employees from the building.
“All deputies are alive and were taken from the territory of the parliament building to safety,” Kadyrov said.
Three interior ministry security guards and one civilian employee of the parliament were killed after militants stormed the parliament building, a spokesman for the interior ministry said.
Russian news agency reports said that two militants blew -themselves up in suicide blasts and the others were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces.
According to the investigative committee of prosecutors, 17 people were wounded in the raid.
Interfax said parliamentary speaker Dukuvakha Abdurakhmanov had been evacuated from the parliament building in an armored vehicle and had not been hurt.
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev — by coincidence on a trip to Grozny — described the operation by the security forces to free the deputies as a success and claimed Chechnya was “stable and safe.”
“As always, they [the militants] failed. They were intercepted by interior ministry troops,” he said at a televised meeting at the local interior ministry.
“Situations like today occur very rarely. Here [in Chechnya] it is stable and safe. The militant underground has been practically decapitated,” he said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is attending a summit in France and a Kremlin official said he had been kept informed in a telephone conversation with Nurgaliyev, Kadyrov and FSB security service chief Alexander Bortnikov.
The special operation was personally led by Kadyrov, Interfax quoted a security source as saying.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from