According to the official, militant Adam Tochiyev, who was detained on the Bamut-Assinovskaya road in the Achkhoi-Martan district (southwestern part of Chechnya) on Thursday morning during a police operation, said the combined group comprised 84 people, including Arab mercenaries.
Tochiyev was part of a militant group lead by Kazbek Batalov, who was killed in the operation.
During the interrogation, the militant said that while the group was crossing the Bamut River, a grenade exploded in the hands of a militant, wounding two people.
Federal troops discovered a cache of weapons during the pursuit. It contained two Kalashnikov machine-guns, two grenade launchers and several hundred rounds of ammunition.
On August 14, the militants attacked the village of Roshni-Chu. A contingent of federal troops sent to the village was ambushed. Five officials from the regional military commandant's office, including the military head of the Urus-Martan district, Colonel Alexander Kayak, were killed and one was seriously wounded.