NALCHIK, Russia: Russian security forces were surrounding Chechen fighters holed up with hostages in a town in the Caucasus on Friday, officials said, one day after a brazen rebel raid that killed dozens.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who came to power in 2000 by talking tough on Chechnya, ordered his security forces to cordon off the southern town of Nalchik after yesterday's attack and kill any gunmen who put up resistance.
The authorities' rapid response to the crisis was in contrast to last year's deadly attack by Chechen militants on a school in the town of Beslan, when the Russian leader was widely criticised for staying silent for too long.
But it remained unclear whether it would deflect public criticism over another failure by security services to prevent a rebel assault in the turbulent region.
The closely coordinated attack on police, army and Federal Security Service (FSB) points in the garrison town marked the first major rebel operation since Abdul-Khalid Sadulayev took over as
leader of the Chechen separatists in March.
It made good his threat to broaden the war for independence against Russian troops in Chechnya to encompass the whole of the mainly Muslim north Caucasus region.
As evening fell, Nalchik residents stood behind trees and walls, nervous that the gunfire might start again, and its usually bustling streets were deserted.
Officials said two small groups of fighters were holed up in a police station and in a shop and were holding small numbers of hostages.
''There is no more resistance in the town now. There are two locations where bandits are holed up and now we are handling this issue,'' said local Interior Minister Khachim Shogenov, speaking in a ministry building scarred with bullet holes.
KREMLIN CHALLENGED
In an operation that challenged Kremlin assertions it had the Caucasus under control, at least 100 rebels attacked key security points in the town yesterday morning, killing 13 residents and 12
police.
Police said 61 rebels had died in the raid, in the main city of the Muslim Kabardino- region near rebel Chechnya, while 17 had been captured.
Several corpses lay in the streets in pools of blood and covered over with blankets during the attack, which wound down by around midday.
Kabardino-Balkaria is one of several Muslim regions in the Caucasus, and borders the North Ossetia province where Chechen militants attacked the school in Beslan in September 2004, resulting in the deaths of 331 people, half of them children.
The separatists, who have been fighting Russian rule for more than a decade, were quick to claim responsibility for the assault on Nalchik, a town of about 280,000 people.
But Russian officials said the security forces had re-established firm control of the town.
''Our main task is to find the bandits in the city,'' said Russia's Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin.
''Not one car, not one train, not one bus will go past without being closely checked.''
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