MOSCOW. Sept 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Well-placed sources have told Interfax that the return of Chechen rebel formations to a number of communities in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge has been registered of late.
"They had wisely left for the mountains before the beginning of the so-called 'police operation' of the Georgian authorities in the gorge," the sources told Interfax on Friday.
In particular, the unit led by the Akhmadov brothers, which numbers several dozen people, has returned to their "winter apartments." There are signs to indicate the presence of prominent warlord Gelayev with his retinue, as well, they said.
Many of these guerillas are returning with refugee certificates, and their return is even easier because of the lack of police checkpoints in certain places.
Thus, "after the mock police operation, the guerillas, as before, are settling in the gorge and other Georgian areas adjacent to it," the sources said.