The Sunday Times     October 16, 2005

Russia's Islamic revolt is spreading

Mark Franchetti, Moscow , and Alexei Shvedov, Nalchik

THE diehard gang of Muslim extremists responsible for last week's
attack on the southern Russian city of Nalchik consisted mainly 
of local militants intent on creating a strict Islamic state 
independent of Moscow, according to security sources in the region.

The disclosure that the gunmen were not sent from the war-torn
republic of Chechnya but belonged to a group from Kabardino-Balkaria,
the Russian republic of which Nalchik is the capital, will be of great
concern to the Kremlin.

It provides alarming evidence that far from dying down - as claimed by
President Vladimir Putin - the bloody Chechen conflict is spreading.

"Most of the militants who were killed and those caught alive are
local," said an officer with the Nalchik anti-terrorism police unit. 
" The ferocity of the attacks has shocked the city."

The onslaught, which turned the town of 280,000 into a war zone, 
was the most daring raid by pro-Chechen Islamic militants since 
last year's Beslan school siege in which 330 hostages were killed. 
It came less than a month before parliamentary elections in Chechnya, 
hailed by Putin as evidence that the region is becoming stable.

The 24 hours of gun battles in which several police stations and other
security forces buildings were attacked left at least 108 dead,
including more than 60 militants. Nearly 30 others were detained.

Most of the gunmen were thought to be members of Yarmuk, a homegrown
fundamentalist group that the local authorities twice claimed to have
destroyed. 

[...]

Full article at "The Sunday Times"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1827623,00.html


Cheers, Steve..

---