GROZNY. Jan 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Servicemen of the unified federal troops in the North Caucasus freed from the Chechen captivity two residents of the Kabardino-Balkarian autonomous republic, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry department for Chechnya told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
Sultan Zhilov, 43, and Amerbi Tikhov, 41, workers of the Grozenergo-Zapadnye Seti enterprise, were captured in Grozny by a group of unidentified people in October 2001. The attackers hijacked the vehicle used by the workers and took the hostages to the Samashki forest.
The two hostages were freed by federal servicemen and policemen engaged in search operations. The rebels who guarded Zhilov and Tikhov were dispersed by small arms fire and fled the site of the engagement, abandoning two assault rifles, three portable grenade launchers and several kilos of explosives.