KHANKALA. Sept 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen guerrillas shot down an MI-24 Hind helicopter near the village of Galashki in Ingushetia on Thursday.
"The helicopter was shot down with a portable anti-aircraft missile system at about 8 a.m.," a source with the headquarters of the Russian Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus has told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The helicopter crashed onto a village, killing the crew of two pilots, the source said.
The guerrillas also fired upon another helicopter but did not damage it.
Army and police troops are currently fighting with the guerrillas from a unit led by prominent Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev.
Gelayev's unit, which had earlier been deployed in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, crossed the Georgian-Russian border in the second half of September, according to the headquarters.
On September 20, the guerrillas attacked a military vehicle near the village of Tarskoye in North Ossetia and then fired upon a military helicopter.
Units of the 58th army, whose headquarters is located in Vladikavkaz, and the Ingush Interior Ministry are carrying out an operation on searching for and eliminating the gang.