GROZNY. May 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Lieutenant Colonel Stryukov, military commissioner of the Shatoi district of Chechnya, was captured by unidentified persons late on May 17 due to violation of safety rules in movement on the republic's territory, a spokesman for the regional operational headquarters in charge of Chechnya campaign said on Monday.
"The Federal Security Service department for Chechnya that is handling the investigation has so far been unable to determine the reason why servicemen of the commissioner's office embarked on a trip," the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The GAZ-66 vehicle carrying the officers was attacked en route between the Dai and Sharoi villages that carried officers and two privates. A report on their capture was submitted to the headquarters only 15 hours after the incident. "Before that the military attempted to find criminals using their own forces, which made it impossible to organize effective search operations," the spokesman stressed.
According to him, Private Attsayev, driver of the vehicle, and Private Amirkhanov, who accompanied the officers were disarmed and released by the attackers. Federals are checking whether they are involved in the capture of officers, but no proof of their cooperation with guerrillas has been found yet.
Law-enforcers are doing their best to identify the attackers and determine the place where the officers are kept, the spokesman added.