At Chechen part of Georgian-Russian border another group of terrorists has been blocked

The Georgian frontier-guards, whose inactivity made it possible for a big gang of Chechen terrorists to penetrate Russia from the Georgian territory on July 27, have started to act at last. As was reported by Shalva Londaridze, the head of the press service of the Georgian border guard state department, last night the Georgian frontier-guards blocked another armed group in the area of the Chechen section of the Georgian-Russian frontier. According to him, a special group of the Georgian border guard state department has been urgently sent to the area of the violation of the frontier. At the present time the trespassers have been blocked; the frontier-guards are taking actions for their disarmament and detention, said Shalva Londaridze.

There can be no doubt that these men are Chechen armed separatists who were moving from their bases in Georgia and were preparing to cross the Russian border with the aim of committing terrorist acts.

The head of the press service said that the route of the new group of militants was similar to the route of the group of the even Chechens who were detained by Georgian frontier-guards last Saturday in the area of the Kerigo mountain pass. After their band was routed by Russian frontier-guards, the remains of the band tried to break through from Russia to Georgia to their bases. The bandits, among whom there are wounded ones, testified that they had crossed the Georgian-Russian border along the Kerigo Gorge. They said that they took part in the battles in the Itum-Kali district.

On July 27, a group of militants of about sixty men penetrated Russia from the territory of Georgia. In the course of the operation the federal forces destroyed up to forty militants and several were taken prisoner.

The losses of the Russian side amounts to eight - killed, including two officers, and five wounded.

The day before, Director of the Russian Federal Frontier Service Konstantin Totsky said that the attempts of the survived militants to return to Georgia showed that they had undoubtedly come to Russia from that country.

The Russian Prosecutor's Office intends to ask the Georgian competent bodies to extradite the armed persons who were detained the last weekend in the attempt to cross the border in the direction from Russia.

As the RIA Novosti correspondent was told in the Prosecutor General's Office on Monday, such an address is now being drafted by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office in accordance with the norms of the International Law and the agreements, existing between Russia and Georgia.