Shooting in Urdyukhoi

A news report which shows that atrocities by federal forces against civilians in Chechnya continue. The noncombatants in this case were three women gathering wild leeks (cheremsha) near their home village of Urdyukhoi in southern Chechnya.

An interesting but tragic detail not included in the Interfax report, but mentioned in a REGNUM bulletin cited by Lenta.ru, is that two of the women were apparently wearing camouflage jackets.

Military suspected of firing at noncombatants in Chechnya - ombudsman

GROZNY. March 24 (Interfax) - A group of soldiers suspected of firing at noncombatants has been detained in Chechnya, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, Chechnya’s ombudsman, told Interfax.

“Law enforcement agencies arrested Lieut. Col. Alexei Korgun, the commander of a reconnaissance squad of the Shatoi military commandant’s office, and several of his subordinates,” the ombudsman said.

“Materials gathered by investigators show that Korgun’s group deliberately opened fire at women gathering wild leeks,” he said.

“This happened in the afternoon. The military clearly saw that they were females, and any mistake should be ruled out,” Nukhazhiyev said.

According to earlier reports, one woman was killed and two others wounded.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov held a conference in Grozny on Saturday, at which he instructed the Chechen prosecutor’s office, the military prosecutor’s office of the combined forces in the North Caucasus, and the Chechen police “to carry out an investigation into the death and wounding of the women.”