Explosion Kills OMON Servicemen In Ingushetia

A deputy commander of the Ingush Interior Ministry’s commando unit (OMON) and at least one other OMON member have been seriously wounded in an explosion from an improvised bomb.

The incident happened near the village of Galashki as security services were conducting an operation to find an outlaw group hiding in a nearby forest.

The search for the outlaws continues.

The OMON officer was taken to a nearby hospital but later died from his injuries.

Ingushetia, along with Russia’s other Caucasus republics such as Kabardino-Balkariya, Daghestan, and Chechnya, continues to experience violence linked to Islamic extremists and organized criminal groups.

The Kremlin has placed special emphasis on pacifying the region before Russia holds the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea coast city of Sochi, also in Russia’s Caucasus.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax