By Country / Russia
Daghestani Town Marks 10th Anniversary Of Chechen Raid
January 09, 2006
9 January 2006 -- Today is the 10th anniversary of the Chechen separatist armed raid on the Daghestani town of Kizlyar.
Residents are expected to gather in front of the town administration's building to commemorate the deaths of the 42 civilians and security officers killed in the unrest.
On 9 January 1996, a dozen armed Chechen militants led by radical field commander Salman Raduev launched an onslaught on Kizlyar and took more than 2,000 people hostage in a local hospital.
Raduev and his men were able to escape from the town after several days of fighting with Russian troops.
Raduev was subsequently captured and tried by a court in Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan. He died in a Russian prison colony, reportedly from a brain hemorrhage, in December 2002.
(ITAR-TASS/RIA-Novosti)