On a festive morning on May 9, 2016, residents of the village of Alkhan-Kala (Chechnya) were awakened by the peals of an explosion. Checkpoint 138 was the site of a terrorist attack by militants belonging to groups that do not want peace and stability in the area. What happened that day was widely covered by the media, from the reports of which a picture of a premeditated and prepared crime is formed. But first, some information about the settlement where the tragedy broke out.
Some statistics
The village of Alkhan-Kala is located in the Grozny region of Chechnya. This is a fairly large town. According to data for 2016, its population is approaching twelve thousand people. At their disposal are three secondary schools, a training and production plant, a department store, a cinema and a dozen retail outlets. Residents of Alkhan-Kala do not face employment problems - a poultry farm operates on the territory of their village, and the Kularinsky state farm is located nearby.
A little historical background
During the Middle Ages in the foothills of the NorthernThe vast and powerful state of Alania was located in the Caucasus, and as a result of excavations carried out on the territory of the village by Soviet archaeologists, it became known that this place was already inhabited in those distant times by the ancestors of modern Chechens. This was evidenced by a large number of household items, weapons and jewelry found in the ground, leaving no doubt that they belonged to the Alanian culture.
The village of Alkhan-Kala begins its history during the Caucasian War of 1817-1864. On the opposite bank of the Sunzha River was the Russian fortress "Golden Valley", the remains of which can be seen today. It is known that after bloody battles it was captured by detachments under the command of Shamil's closest associates - the Gendargenovsky brothers.
Origin of the village name
These desperate warriors not only defeated the Russian outpost, but at the same time took over the surrounding lands, among which were the mowing fields of a we althy landowner named Alkhi. Litigation began, during which the brothers resorted to the help of their patron Shamil. Not wanting to come into conflict with the formidable imam, Alikh considered it prudent to move to the opposite bank of the Sunzha and establish a new settlement there, the name of which was derived from his name - Alkhan-Kala (city of Alkhi).
Russian-speaking population of the village
In the pre-revolutionary period, the village was called Yermolovskoye, in honor of the famous Russian general, who made a significant contribution to the conquest of the warlike tribes of the Caucasus. It is characteristic that thisthe name is often used today by its Russian-speaking residents, and it is also used by the railway station located nearby. In former times, it was inhabited mainly by Cossacks and settlers - immigrants from Russia, whose task was to control the observance of law and state interests in this extremely turbulent area.
Already in the Soviet period, a railway leading to Grozny was laid through the village of Alkhan-Kala. Old-timers, of whom there are very few today, bitterly recall how trains moved along it in 1944, taking thousands of Chechens - women, children and the elderly (men fought at the front) - sentenced to deportation, to the Kyrgyz and Kazakh steppes. The few who did return in 1957 created a Chechen community, but the Russian population still predominated in those years.
People who glorified their village and the republic
In the years preceding the aggravation of the political situation in Chechnya, among the inhabitants of the village there were many people who became the pride of their republic. Among them, it should be noted the famous plastic surgeon Khasan Zhunidovich Baiev, who was repeatedly awarded the title of “Person of the Year” in America, Japan and Great Britain for his achievements in medicine, and also became the laureate of the “Physician of the World” award. This amazing person managed to achieve unprecedented results in sports, becoming the world champion in sambo and the winner of the US championship in ultimate fighting. Truly, a talented person is talented in everything.
The Chechen village of Alkhan-Kala, whose photos are presented in the article, gave Russia many other wonderful people. Among them are the well-known banker A. A. Arsamakov, the honored art worker, puppeteer Ya. Yu. Delaev, human rights lawyer M. A. Musaev and a number of others known far beyond the borders of their republic. All of them more than once became the heroes of television and radio programs, as well as publications in the Russian and foreign press. The Chechen Republic is rightfully proud of them.
Alkhan-Kala during the years of bloody clashes
A sad role was destined for the village during the last Chechen wars that swept through the mountains of the Caucasus. As a result of ongoing hostilities, many of its inhabitants (especially Russians) were forced to leave their homes and share the bitter fate of refugees. There are numerous testimonies of atrocities perpetrated against the Russian-speaking population, the bulk of which in those years were elderly people. There is no doubt that they were committed not as part of an interethnic conflict, but solely for the purpose of taking possession of the property of the victims and personal enrichment.
In general, Wahhabi sentiments were very strong in it, suffice it to say that among the inhabitants there were such ardent supporters of separatism and the creation of a Sharia state, as field commander Arbi Baraev and his niece, the notorious shahid Khava Baraeva. This seventeen-year-old girl committed a terrorist attack in June 2000, which received a wide response not only in our country, but also abroad.
Uncle and his niece
Near a federal military facility, she detonated a truck filled with TNT. The result of her actions was the death of three Russian servicemen and the injury of five more. Unfortunately, this illegal act was perceived by many in Chechnya as a heroic and exemplary act. A song was even composed about Khava Baraeva, which became very popular among the people.
What kind of people were the contingent of illegal armed groups of those years, you can get an idea on the example of the uncle of this young terrorist - the above-mentioned Arbi Baraev. Having risen to the rank of brigadier general of the Republic of Ichkeria during the years of the first Chechen war and being deprived of this rank by Aslan Maskhadov, in the period preceding the start of the next military campaign, he became widely known as a bandit specializing in kidnapping and the leader of a gang of slave traders, whose victims were many dozens residents of Chechnya and adjacent areas.
Activation of gangs
During the periods of both Chechen campaigns, the Russian military were forced to conduct numerous “cleansing operations” and special operations in the village, which resulted in the arrests of everyone who was related to illegal military formations. These actions, in turn, gave rise to new waves of violence on the part of the armed underground that existed in the village of Alkhan-Kala (Chechnya), whose actions became more and more active.
The results of their attacks were several murders of representatives of the legitimate authorities -village heads and police officers, as well as those who collaborated with the Russian military. In addition, several explosions of military equipment of the federal troops were committed. Only after the end of the war, when relative calm was established in Chechnya, the village of Alkhan-Kala began to establish a peaceful life. Little by little, the former refugees began to return to it, with the efforts of which the houses devastated by the war were restored.
Alkhan-Kala. Checkpoint 188
However, it's time to return to the events of the May morning in 2006. It was a holiday, and the village was still asleep. At about 6:15 a.m., two men approached checkpoint 138, located on the Grozny-Alkhan-Kala highway, where a combined detachment from Bashkiria was serving. One of them had a backpack on his back. When asked about the purpose that forced them to leave their homes at such an inopportune time, they replied that they were going to look for the sheep that had strayed from the herd the day before. The duty policeman, not satisfied with the answer, tried to check their documents, and then the one who had a backpack set off an improvised explosive device that was in it. His companion threw a grenade towards the policemen and tried to open fire with a pistol, but was destroyed by fire to kill.
As a result of the explosion, six police officers were injured, and three of them were taken to the hospital in critical condition. The investigating authorities soon managed to identify the attackers. They turned out to be residents of the village of Kirov, located not far from Grozny, Shamil Dzhanaraliev and Akhmed Inalov. Both, as it turned out, are still very young people. The first of them was barely twenty-seven years old, andhis partner was two years younger. There is no doubt about the reliability of this information, since their closest relatives took part in the identification of the bodies of the criminals.
Arrest of accomplices in crime
In accordance with Russian law, a criminal case was initiated under two articles at once - on the encroachment on the life of law enforcement officers and on the illegal acquisition of weapons. Despite the fact that the attackers themselves were dead, the investigation had yet to find out who directed their actions.
Very soon, as a result of operational-search actions, five members of an underground terrorist group were detained, who were directly related to the militants who committed the terrorist attack in Alkhan-Kala. From their testimonies, it became clear that the killed militants were the leaders of an illegal armed group, in which they have recently managed to involve the arrested.
There is information about one of them, Dzhanaraliev, that six months before the crime he committed, he tried to leave Chechnya and illegally move to Syria, but was detained by law enforcement agencies. Only the appeals of numerous relatives, sent to the leadership of the republic, saved him from punishment and made it possible to return to peaceful life, which in fact turned out to be only a screen behind which he did not stop committing illegal actions.
Statement of the Head of the Republic
The acting head of the republic made a statement about what happened in the village (Alkhan-Kala, Chechnya)Ramzan Kadyrov. In his address, he stressed that the incident should be regarded as the gravest crime aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region. According to him, in the near future all forces will be activated to combat the consequences of the terrorist attack and prevent attempts to repeat it.
Ramzan Kadyrov assured the citizens of Russia that countering all illegal actions aimed at escalating tensions will be carried out on a large scale and will take on the character of an uncompromising struggle. In his statement, he also noted that the process of recognizing Chechnya as a prosperous and stable republic is currently in full swing in the world, and he, as its leader, will make every effort to ensure that no renegades can interfere with this.
