GROZNY. July 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Federal servicemen have killed three rebels in Chechnya over the past 24 hours, the regional headquarters for the anti-guerilla operation in the North Caucasus told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
"Two clashes occurred in the Kurchaloi district and on the border between the Shali and Nozhai-Yurt districts. Three rebels were killed. The federal force did not suffer any losses," the headquarters said.
The command of the federal forces has decided to place night ambushes on possible rebel routes, as residents of mountainous Chechen villages asked law-enforcement agencies many times to protect them from criminals appearing in the villages mostly at night, the headquarters went on.
"Such tactics has produced some results," it said.
In particular, a federal unit found a group of four armed rebels near the Yalkhoi-Mokh village in the Kurchaloi district on Monday. The rebels were heading for Yalkhoi-Mokh from the direction of the Belty village.
"The guerillas tried to resist arrest. One of them was killed in the engagement, the others abandoned arms and equipment and escaped," the headquarters said.
According to it, a similar engagement with a group of five rebels at the junction of the administrative borders of the Shali and Nozhai-Yurt district resulted in the destruction of two guerillas.
"The arms abandoned by guerillas have been sent for expert examination. Identification of corpses is underway," the headquarters said.
Police in the Shelkovskaya district tipped off by surrendered guerillas detained a rebel warlord called Suleiman Dakayev, born in 1976. He headed the so-called Wahhabi Jamaat, an illegal rebel administration.
"The man was on the wanted list for committing a series of grave crimes. He was hiding in the mountains of the republic for a long time. Investigation us underway," the headquarters said.
Law-enforcers investigating the murder of two policemen in the Shatoi district have detained an illegal rebel gang member called Aindi Emir-Sambiyev in the Ulus-Kert village of the same district.
"There is irrefutable proof of his involvement in the crime. It has been established that the criminal gang that included the detainee was committing crimes dressed as Chechen policemen," the headquarters said.
Two AKS-74 assault rifles, a Saiga-410S automatic carbine, 1,168 5.45-mm cartridges, an F-1 grenade, 30 magazines for the Kalashnikov assault rifle, four armor vests, and two sets of camouflage uniform with Chechen elite police insignia were found in the house where Emir-Saibiyev was hiding. Investigation into the man's activity continues.
According to the headquarters, federals have destroyed nine arms caches in the past 24 hours, seizing from them four small- arms pieces, 49 grenades, over 8,900 cartridges, nine portable anti-tank grenade launchers, 59 rounds for them, and nine kilos of explosives.