MOSCOW, March 2 (Itar-Tass) —— The group of gunmen, who were killed at the Chechnya-Dagestan border in the operation in which 17 policemen died, had terrorized North Caucasian people during decades, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said on Friday.
It is a gang that transferred groups of terrorists in the North Caucasian region and during decades committed violence and murders, the minister said during the meeting with members of families of policemen who were killed in service in various years.
All the 17 officers blocked the "channel of death", the channel of grief for citizens in Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia and the entire North Caucasus, Nurgaliyev noted.
In the four-day operation conducted in mid-February in Dagestan's Kazbek district, in the area of the border with Chechnya, seven gunmen were killed, including a leaders of gunmen, Magarbi Timiraliyev, known as Abudar, who was on a federal wanted list.
In the fight with the gunmen, 17 policemen from Chechnya were killed in an attack from ambush, and 24 policemen were wounded.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after Nurgaliyev's report about the special operation, gave directions to provide aid for the policemen's families and ensure appropriate medical care for the wounded policemen.