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Ship hijacked as Chechen siege expands

Russian soldier

Rebels hold firm under fierce Russian assault

January 16, 1996
Web posted at: 11:30 p.m. EST (0430 GMT)

TRABZON, Turkey (CNN) -- Chechen rebels and sympathizers staged attacks against Russia on three fronts Tuesday, seizing a ferry boat in a Turkish port and taking hostages in the Chechen capital of Grozny, while raiders fiercely fended off Russian troops in Pervomaiskaya.

As Russian troops continued attempts to roust Chechen rebels from a Russian border town, a group of masked men, believed to be Turkish sympathizers of the Chechen cause in Pervomaiskaya, boarded a ferry boat at a port on the Black Sea. The gunmen reportedly killed one passenger before ordering the captain to set sail with 255 people on board.

According to Reuters, the gunmen's leader, identifying himself only as Mohammed, said, "If the Russians do not free our 250 friends in the northern Caucasus, we are going to blow the ship up in Istanbul's Bosphorus."

The Turkish leader was referring to the clash between Russian troops and Chechen rebels holding hostages near the Chechen border, where the second day of heavy fighting was under way.

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A Turkish news agency said one person had been killed and the head of the Trabzon tourist office had been wounded in the ferry siege at the Turkish port of Trabzon.

The Turkish Interior Ministry said that 164 Russians were on the ship along with 46 Turks and a crew of 45.

CNN reporter Andrew Finkel said the hijackers have threatened to shoot a Russian hostage every 10 minutes unless the captain returns to the boat. Meanwhile, Turkish troops had taken up positions around the Russian consulate in Trabzon.


injured soldier

Bad weather hampers Russian assault

Earlier Tuesday, Russian troops continued their assault on the Dagestani village of Pervomaiskaya in an attempt to flush out the group of Chechen rebels, who were still controlling more than half of the village.

Fighting seemed to be dying down slightly as the day progressed and bad weather was hampering the Russian military efforts.

Heavy snows meant helicopter gunships risked hitting their own troops on the ground or hurting more hostages.

There were no clear figures on how many of the more than 100 hostages had been killed or how many have been freed.

freed hostage

Russian officials told CNN that 23 hostages had been freed. CNN correspondent Eileen O'Connor saw about that number being kept in a house just outside the village under Russian guard, but was unable to confirm their identity or how they got out of the village.

Chechen rebel spokesmen said many of the hostages were killed in the first 24 hours of the Russian assault on the village and denied that they killed any of them. The Russians said they had freed a group of hostages, but the Chechens said the group was released to "tell the truth" about the fighting.

Russian authorities said the Chechens were dug in and offering fierce resistance. Russian soldiers bringing out their wounded said they think it may take a week to capture the tiny village. Fighting was often hand-to-hand.

helicopter gunship

Russian forces continued to pound the village with mortar rounds, periodically interrupting the quiet of the steppe with the blast of exploding shells. Helicopter gunships continued to hover overhead. The situation was made worse by new snows and cold, bitter winds sweeping across the area.

Dagestani villagers looking on blamed both the Chechens and the Russians. "The Chechens are guilty of this. They started it by taking hostages," said one villager.

"They should let them go back to Chechnya and do the fighting there instead of on our territory," said one woman. "The Chechens are used to war."

Chechens take hostages in Grozny

In the Chechen capital of Grozny Tuesday a group of 38 Russians and two Chechens were taken captive by a group of Chechens. Russian officials say they are acting on the assumption that this was carried out by another group of Chechen rebels, but Chechen rebel sources had not confirmed that.

The group might have been kidnapped by criminals who will demand a ransom for their release, which is reportedly a common occurrence in Chechnya.

In Moscow, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was being kept informed of events in Dagestan and Chechnya Tuesday and was briefed by his team of security advisors. The new session of the Russian Duma opened Tuesday by observing a minute of silence for the those killed in the assault in Pervomaiskaya.

The crisis began seven days ago when Chechen fighters led by Salman Raduyev crossed into neighboring Dagestan and took more than 2,000 hostages at a hospital in the town of Kizlyar in the Republic of Dagestan.

The Chechens fled toward the border of Chechnya, taking more than 100 hostages as shields. They were stopped just shy of the border by Russian troops and encircled last Wednesday.

Russian troops began their assault Monday morning after Dagestani officials and the Kremlin failed to negotiate an end to the crisis.

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