Breaking news from Nal'chik

Today there appears to have been another instance of the Russian government failing to keep its people safe from military (some might say terrorist) attack on their own soil - according to various reports, some 60 militants - though other sources say there were as many as 300 - did battle with law enforcement and Russian military units in the southern town of Nal'chik and blew up or attacked several offices housing police, FSB, and other security agencies. Here's the story from CNN; you can also read about this in English on RIA Novosti's website and in Russian on Regnum and Lenta.

The reports right now seem a bit confused, like no one knows what exactly happened and why, although I did see reports of as many as 60 civilian deaths (in this BBC story). Apparently some of the fighters have been captured, although only time will tell if their justice will take the form of a public trial or death by torture in a concealed location. Mosnews (in English) reports 50 militants and 12 locals (unclear whether they were civilians or local law enforcement) dead, and puts the number of militants at 150.

What is disturbing about this is that it shows the Chechen fighters are ranging farther into Russia than they have in the recent past, and this time they've taken on a relatively large city and a regional capital. Nal'chik is much farther from Chechnya's border with the rest of Russia than Beslan was, and at 275,000 its population is about 8 times larger than Beslan's - although Nal'chik may not be as far into Russian territory as Budyonnovsk was, I don't think anyone wants to use the lawlessness of the First Chechen War as a benchmark. Nal'chik is rather close to the Georgian border - I wonder how long it is before the Russian government starts making accusations and excuses about Georgian collaboration with the Chechens? It wouldn't be the first time.

As always, one hopes for a minimum of deaths among the innocent civilians caught in between the Chechens' barbarous audacity and the Russian government's incompetence.