Russians gas holed-up rebels
2005-02-20 11:41
Moscow - Russian special forces launched an assault on a building in the Caucasus on Sunday, killing suspected Islamic rebels with poison gas, Russian news agencies reported.
The situation was confused on Sunday several hours after special forces opened up with automatic fire on the first storey of the house in Nalchik, capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic, which borders war-torn Chechnya.
According to Ria Novosti, the forces used a "special gas" and continued to fire at the building to distract the men holed up inside.
They were waiting for the gas to disperse before inspecting the whole building, Interfax said, adding that human remains had been found in the first floor apartment.
It was not clear how many rebels had been in the building. News agencies put the number at between three and five.
Police, special forces and armoured troop carriers had been ranged against the building since Saturday morning and authorities announced they were negotiating with the rebels to give themselves up.
The public prosecutor for Kabardino-Balkaria said the people inside were "members of illegal gangs who had taken part in various terrorist acts and military operations in Chechnya", Ria Novosti said.
On Saturday regional authorities said they were the last members of a small Islamic group calling itself Jammaat Yarmuk, decimated in a similar assault by Russian special forces in Nalchik in January, when seven members of the group died.
- AFP