KHANKALA. Aug 11 (Interfax-AVN) - Four members of Rappani Khalilov's rebel group have been killed in Chechnya's Vedeno district.
Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the regional headquarters for anti-guerilla operations in the North Caucasus, told Interfax on Monday that federal forces are conducting a special operation against Khalilov's rebels in the mountains of southern Chechnya. Khalilov is a resident of Dagestan.
Shabalkin noted that "the operation is being conducted near the village of Tazen-Kale in the Vedeno district."
The spokesman said that four rebels were killed and their camp and several caches containing weapons, food supplies and special-purpose equipment were destroyed in the first few hours of the attack.
"Khalilov and the rest of his group have managed to escape. They are being pursued. A large number of documents, including lists of the rebel group's members, lists of radio frequencies with call signs and codes, as well as equipment used to plant explosive devices, have been discovered at the site of the destroyed camp," Shabalkin added.
He said that this rebel group is made up mostly of residents of Dagestan, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Kabardino-Balkaria and other Russian regions, as well as Arabs and Turks. He noted that the effort will continue until the entire group is eliminated.
The spokesman added that the servicemen acted on a tip-off from rebels cooperating with the federal forces.