RUSSIA: Rebel forces attacked a Russian provincial capital in the Caucasus yesterday, seizing key government buildings and triggering a day of furious fighting, Chris Stephen in Moscow
Helicopter gunships and armoured cars were used as federal forces fought street battles to regain control of the town of Nalchik, in the eastern province of Kabardino-Balkaria. Fifty-nine guerrillas were reported dead and 17 captured, while the security forces lost 12 men. Civilian casualty figures are not known.
Early reports say the attackers included units from nearby Chechnya in what is the biggest rebel ground offensive for several years.
Confusion reigned through the day as police trapped in the city beat off attacks by rebels and troops massed on the outskirts. By nightfall, the entire city had been cordoned off and Moscow reported that militants were holding out in two pockets deep inside the town.
The battle raises new questions about Moscow's ability to control militants, and would appear to confirm reports that the war in Chechnya has now spread across the Caucuses.
Reports in Moscow say the fight was triggered by the arrest, the day before, of several Islamic militants, called Wahhabists, by local police.
About 200 rebels launched an offensive early yesterday morning to capture the interior ministry headquarters where the arrested men were being held. By mid-morning the building had fallen and black smoke was billowing from the roof.
Fighting had also broken out around two police headquarters buildings and the base of the FSB, the secret service. Rebel units occupied much of the town, destroyed a communications tower and attacked the airport.
At midday, helicopter gunships, firing rockets and machine guns, were hammering rebel positions.
With the attack on the airport repelled, 100 army commandos were flown in. They joined with tanks and armoured cars and in early afternoon armoured spearheads pushed deep into the town centre. Explosions and machine-gun fire were heard from across the city as these battle groups pushed rebel units back. Hospitals reported 70 wounded casualties arriving, along with 10 dead bodies.
Thousands of children were bussed out of town after schools were evacuated.
By 3pm, as smoke and flames rose from several buildings in the town centre, president Vladimir Putin ordered the entire town blockaded. Residents in the town were reported to be cowering inside basements as sniper bullets pinged off their buildings. Cars were off the streets and shops closed, while state radio urged residents to stay home.
As confusion spread, Kabardino-Balkarian premier Gennady Gubin said the army would take back the town by nightfall.
Then a new rebel assault stormed a third police headquarters, with hostages taken as the rebels fought their way inside. The FSB announced its officers were holding out in their besieged headquarters.
The army said it had identified six separate rebel units battling in different sectors, putting overall numbers at up to 200.
By early evening the army announced its mobile units had reached the centre, and were in control of the streets with rebel units holding two strongholds, thought to be the interior ministry and the police headquarters where hostages were kept.
"The thugs who attacked the city's law enforcement establishments today have been for the most part dispersed," said Dmitry Kozak, Russian presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District. "Separate hotbeds are left." With troops deployed in strength in Nalchik, and security forces across the region on full alert, Moscow should be back in control of the town by today .
The attack comes in a province that had until now been spared the fighting that has scarred Chechnya and much of the Caucuses. But tensions have surfaced between Moscow and the province's mostly Muslim population in recent months over the decision to close some mosques, and after raids by security forces on suspected Chechen sympathisers.
The result of six years of fighting in Chechnya has been to see violence spread across the Caucuses. Last year's attack on Beslan High School, in North Ossetia, was the most horrific example. But rebel groups have also attacked security forces in neighbouring Dagestan, where a full-fledged guerrilla war is now in progress.
With living conditions low and corruption high, feelings of injustice are strong across these provinces which abut the northern slopes of the great Caucus mountain chain.The ferocity of the rebel offensive, is all the more surprising after a quiet summer with no major rebel attacks.
