A militant group led by field commander Magarbi Timiraliyev, known as "Abudar," was eliminated in the east of Chechnya during a special police operation, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Friday.
A special police operation in the eastern Chechnya border with Dagestan began five days ago after law enforcers surrounded three militant groups who refused to surrender and put up armed resistance.
Kadyrov said that the group, suspected of carrying out terrorist acts and assaults on policemen, consisted of 20 people. Seven of them were killed and Friday, while 13 others were killed earlier.
“They put up armed resistance against police officers, Interior Ministry troops and special task force officers and were killed in return fire,” Kadyrov told journalists.
He said that the operation is not over yet and Chechen law enforcers in cooperation with their colleagues from Dagestan are continuing to pursue two remaining militant groups.
He also expressed his condolences to the relatives of policemen killed in the operation, but did not specify how many of them were killed.
According to police sources and various media reports, at least 13 policemen were killed and some 20 wounded since the beginning of the operation, but there are no official figures as of yet.
