GROZNY, November 3 (RIA Novosti) - About 700 gunmen continue to operate in the troubled republic of Chechnya and neighboring regions in Russia's North Caucasus, a senior military official said Friday.
Although the latest war in Chechnya officially ended in 2001, which together with the first left up to 100,000 Chechens dead, periodic bombings and clashes between gunmen and federal troops still disrupt the republic's comparative calm, with the violence often spilling over into adjacent regions.
"About 700 bandits are still in the Chechen Republic and areas bordering on it," said Gen. Yevgeny Baryayev, commander of Russian forces in the North Caucasus.
The latest attack occurred earlier Friday when a police officer was killed and four wounded in a road bridge bombing in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.
Baryayev said "the gunmen migrate between Ingushetia, Daghestan and other republics," have substantial funds and actively seek new recruits. The general called for more intensive efforts by civilian and military units to eliminate the gunmen once and for all.
"We must liquidate this bandits' nest together," he said. "They are not allowing people to live normal lives."
Chechnya has been largely ruined by years of fighting dating back to 1994, when the first military campaign was launched by then-President Boris Yeltsin to "restore constitutional order."
That incursion ended in 1996 with the defeat and withdrawal of Russian troops and the de facto independence of the republic.
In 1999, following a large-scale attack by Chechen militants in the neighboring Russian republic of Daghestan, and a series of bombing attacks in Moscow and other Russian cities allegedly launched from Chechnya, the new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, ordered federal troops back into the republic in a second military campaign that lasted until 2001.
Following the killing of Chechnya's number one terrorist, Shamil Basayev, Russian authorities announced a partial amnesty July 15 for militants who were not involved in major atrocities.
A law granting amnesty to militants and servicemen guilty of offenses during the North Caucasus antiterrorism campaign came into force in late September.
Officials said more than 300 militants have surrendered since then, mainly in Chechnya.
