23:47, 15 December 2004

Investigation of attack on anti-drug department continues

According to information obtained by the Caucasian Knot correspondent from Kabardino-Balkarian law enforcement agencies, records from video cameras for external observation of the anti-drug department in Nalchik are being decoded now. Some of the video cameras, which were inside the building, burned in the fire, which completely destroyed the ground floor. The cameras for external observation inside the building spared by the fire recorded the attackers — there were from 8 to 10 people. They wore camouflage uniforms and masks.

Kabardino-Balkarian clergymen have taken the letter of the Yarmuk jamaat published by the separatist website Kavkaz Center as the criminals' attempt to justify their actions. "If these people worried about the situation with the distribution of drugs in Kabardino-Balkaria, why did they seize so many arms?" said Sharafutdin Chochayev, director of the Islamic Institute in Nalchik.

Some sources say that the arms seized during the attack in Kabardino-Balkaria have most likely been taken out to Chechnya.

Author: Lyudmila Maratova, CK correspondent