19 Dead After Islamic Militants Attack Grozny, Chechnya’s Capital

MOSCOW — Islamic militants infiltrated Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, overnight and early Thursday, seizing buildings and opening fire on security forces in a gun battle that killed 10 police officers and nine miltants, officials said. The attack came just hours before President Vladimir V. Putin delivered a state of the nation speech in Moscow, in which he made only a passing reference to the violence.

The Russian state news media reported that the militants had seized an office building, which was then recaptured by security forces, and a school. Terrified residents of Grozny said they heard loud explosions and saw armed gunmen roaming the streets.

Andrey Chatsky, a spokesman for Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee, confirmed in a statement broadcast on Russian television that 10 police officers had been killed and 28 injured in the armed clashes.

Ramzan A. Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, said in a statement posted on his website, “We have the corpses of nine militants.” Earlier, he told the news agency Interfax that the office building, called the House of Publishing and used by newspapers and other media, had been recaptured by morning, and that all seven militants inside had been killed.

Source http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/world/europe/grozny-chechnya-attack.html?referrer=