Russian police executed say Chechen rebels
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See the article in its original context from April 2000.
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There was no immediate comment from Russian officials on the report on the Chechens' Internet website, but one said earlier there had been no question of a swap. The rebels had threatened to kill the nine by 8 a.m. (0400 GMT).
The policemen were from the Urals region of Perm and part of a group of special forces ambushed last week in Zhani Vedeno, near the key Vedeno gorge in the south of the breakaway region. A total of 43 servicemen died in the attack.
"The captives were executed today at 8 a.m. The Chechen side is ready to exchange the corpses of the OMON (special police) from Perm for wounded "Mujahideen," Kavkaz.org said, quoting Chechen commanders.
"The Kremlin refused to exchange the nine Perm OMON for the sadist Colonel Budanov... The exchange should happen in the next two or three days, because it is not possible to keep the corpses unburied for any longer."
Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said he had information that 11 commandos were still alive after the ambush. "We have plunged into an analysis about what happened during the shooting of the Perm OMON. We have launched an investigation in every department responsible and have started active work on those people involved in the shooting," Rushailo told ORT state television from the region.
"There is a lot of contradictory information, but we have information that among the OMON troops 11 people are alive. We will have to check it."
