The aggression began on August 2 when militants invaded the Tsumadinsky district. The police from the district interior department and the people's militia were the first to join the battle.
On August 4 and 5, illegal armed units, commanded by Chechen militant leaders the Basayev brothers and international terrorist Khattab, invided the Botlikhsky district and occupied the villages of Ansalta, Tondo, Rakhata and Shodroda.
Local people's militia fought side by side with servicemen. Sixteen-year-old Khadzhimurat Kurakhmayev displayed extreme patriotism and courage. When the bandits entered his village, he took a submachine gun from one of them and killed several before he was killed by return fire. Posthumously, the title of Hero of Russia was conferred on young man. And this is not the only example of courage at that time.
After defeating international terrorist units in the Botlikhsky and Tsumadinsky districts, Russian Defense Ministry soldiers, Russian Interior Ministry troops and Dagestan Interior Ministry special task forces reduced the resistance of the radical Islamists in the Kadar zone of the Buinaksk district. The villages of Kadar, Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi were freed at the beginning of September, 1999.
During the military campaign, which lasted for a month and a half, the people of Dagestan, the army and other military structures not only defended the independence of the republic and its constitutional system, but also confirmed their loyalty to its historical choice - to be united with Russia.
