Shatoy ambush

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=The Shatoy ambush


caption=
partof=First Chechen War
place=Near Yaryshmardy, Shatoysky District, Chechnya
date=April 16, 1996
result=Decisive Chechen victory
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1=Pyotr Terzovets †
commander2=Ibn al-Khattab
strength1=Probably about 200
strength2=43 to 100
casualties1=53 to 223 (probably about 100) killed
casualties2=Possibly 3 killed
casualties3=Reportedly few civilians killed
campaign=Campaignbox First Chechen WarThe Shatoy ambush was an April 16 1996, attack by forces of an Arab-born commander Ibn al-Khattab near the town of Shatoy in the southern mountains of Chechnya, during the First Chechen War.

The battle

The attack wrecked the column of the Russian 2nd Battalion from the 245th Motor Rifle Regiment (MRR) and killed 53 servicemen and injured 52, according to the official Russian figures. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/04/26/wchech26.xml Arab-born Chechen leader 'killed'] , "The Telegraph", 26/04/2002] The first reports by the officials said only 26 were killed and 51 wounded. [ [http://www.paksearch.com/br96/Apr/17/CHECHEN1.htm Chechen rebels kill 26 Russian soldiers in ambush] , Interfax, 96 04 17]

According to the other sources, more than 70 [ [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=24&issue_id=2159&article_id=18995 KVASHNIN CALLS REPORTS THAT KHATTAB WAS WOUNDED "RUMORS."] , The Jamestown Foundation, December 14, 2001] ["Russia After Communism" by Rick Fawn, Stephen White, 2002] ["Realignments in Russian Foreign Policy" by Rick Fawn, 2003] to almost 100 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/460678.stm Khatab: Islamic revolutionary] , BBC News, 30 September, 1999] [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=25&issue_id=2237&article_id=19311 KHATTAB KILLED, CLAIMS AN UNNAMED FSB OFFICIAL.] , The Jamestown Foundation, April 12, 2002] [ [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/1999/09/18/040.html Portrait of 2 Warlords] , "The Moscow Times", September 18, 1999] to 223 [ [http://www.globalterroralert.com/thesis.pdf The Legacy of the Arab-Afghans: A Case Study] ("estimates from Moscow")] soldiers of the 245th MRR died in the ambush. A few civilians who were traveling with the convoy were also reportedly killed. [http://www.amina.com/article/did_nsa.html Did NSA Help Russia Target Dudayev?] Covert Action Quarterly 1997 No. 61]

According to the account by the Polish volunteer Mirosław Kuleba (aka Władysław Wilk/Mehmed Borz), Khattab's detachment of 43 men chose a "perfect ambush spot" with a ravine and a stream on one side and a forested slope on the other side of a serpentine mountain road. The rebels first let the Russian recon squad through and then detonated an improvised explosive device under the leading tank. Simultaneously, rocket-propelled grenades hit the command vehicle, killing the Russian commander instantly, and the armoured personnel carrier (APC) at the end the column. After this, the Chechens opened fire on the rest of the Russian unit. Kuleba wrote that the three-hour attack burned 27 armoured vehicles and trucks in the convoy and only 12 out of 199 Russian soldiers "survived the slaughter", while the rebel losses were three killed and six wounded.pl icon Czeczeński Specnaz, "Komandos", June 1997]

According to the Russian book "Chechenskiy Kapkan", up to 100 fighters ambushed the column of 30 Russian armoured vehicles, almost 100 soldiers were killed and "only eight escaped with their lives". [http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/caucasus/P29 CHECHNYA: TWO FEDERAL INTERVENTIONS] , Conflict Studies Research Centre, January 2000]

According to the U.S. book "The Wolves of Islam", the destroyed convoy numbered 50 vehicles (trucks, fuel tankers, APCs and a mine-clearing T-80 tank) and by Khattab's account more than 200 soldiers were killed. ["The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror" by Paul J. Murphy, 2004]

Aftermath

A video of the aftermath of the ambush, "with Khattab walking triumphantly down a line of blackened Russian corpses", [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020501/ai_n12609324 Obituary: Khattab] , "The Independent", May 1, 2002] gained him the early fame and a great notoriety in Russia. [ [http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol8/0103_williams.asp The Russo-Chechen War: A Threat to Stability in the Middle East and Eurasia?] , Middle East Policy Council, March 2001] The images of carnage also caused a new calls for the Russia's defence minister Pavel Grachev to resign. The video was widely celebrated in Chechnya, while Russia suspended its troop withdrawal.

References

External links

* [ftp://ia300214.us.archive.org/3/items/Shatoi/shatoi.wmv Cihad Net video of the ambush to download (scenes from the first 45 minutes)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9v4lhglFgM YouTube post of the same video]