Europe News

Two Russian soldiers killed in attack in Ingushetia

Oct 18, 2008, 16:04 GMT

Moscow - Rebels in the Caucasus republic of Ingushetia attacked Saturday a Russian army convoy, killing two soldiers and wounding at least five, the military said.

A military staff spokesman told the Interfax agency that at least 30 rebels took part in the attack on the convoy.

The Ingushetia opposition claimed that far higher casualties were inflicted on the Russian soldiers, with its internet site ingueshetia.org - citing what were termed unofficial accounts - that 50 soldiers died in the attack.

Ingushetian prosecutors accused the rebels of carrying out attacks in the aim of 'destablizing the situation in the entire North Caucasus region.'

Human rights groups meanwhile complain that there is no independent reporting of the situation in Ingushetia.

Ingushetia, located in between the Russian republics of Chechnya and North Ossetia, is considered as extremely unsafe amid the fighting between rebels and security forces of the Moscow loyalist government in the capital Magas.