KHANKALA/MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The Chechen guerrillas who have been surrounded near the Ingush village of Galashki entered Russia from Georgia, a high-ranking source with the headquarters of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus reported.
"We know several routes along which the guerrillas came from Georgia," the source said.
The guerrillas first entered North Ossetia and were spotted near the village of Tarskoye, where the first armed clashes occurred several days ago.
"The headquarters had reliable information, including data obtained through agents, that the guerrillas' final destination is Chechnya. An operation to block and wipe out the gang was planned. The guerrillas were actually driven into a trap near Galashki," the source said.
The Russian president's information department earlier reported that the guerrilla unit surrounded near Galashki is part of a gang led by prominent field commander Abdul Malik, which was earlier deployed in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge and, at that time, numbered up to 300 people, based on different estimations. The backbone of the gang is made up of Wahhabis and mercenaries.
Field commander Abdul Malik, whose men are believed to have attacked Galashki, is Russian by origin. The Chechen prosecutor's office told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday that hiding under the Arab name is Vitaly Smirnov, the leader of an organized criminal group acting in northern parts of Chechnya, who was born in 1977 and later adopted Islam.
According to information from the Chechen prosecutor's office, Smirnov's gang has long been persecuted by law enforcement bodies for committing a number of felonies. In particular, Smirnov's men are considered responsible for numerous robberies and abductions, including of ethnic Russians, for ransom.