KHANKALA. Dec 3 (Interfax-AVN) - At least ten foreign military instructors in operations with explosives have been killed in Chechnya recently, spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus Ilya Shabalkin told Interfax on Friday.
Most of them are citizens of Turkey, Canada, Algeria and Britain, Shabalkin said.
According to intelligence available to law enforcement agencies, their poor qualifications and errors in assembling and planting home-made bombs causes the death of five to seven militants each month, he said. Most of them are young people aged 16-20, who were entangled in the activities of illegal armed groups through threats, deceit or promises of large payments, he said.
But mercenaries, as a rule, do not take part in planting mines and are trying to reduce the risk to their lives to a minimum, Shabalkin said.
Federal forces have been using anti-terrorist equipment to deal with demolition squads, he said. To guarantee the safety of civilians, this equipment is used outside populated areas. Each week, federal forces kill up to three rebels with the use of this equipment, he said. It has recently been used outside the villages of Goiskoye and Roshni-Chu in the Urus-Martan district, Shabalkin said.