- MOSCOW (Reuters) - Separatist
guerrillas shot down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter Tuesday near Moscow's main
military base in Chechnya just outside the capital Grozny, killing four
servicemen, officials said.
-
- Interfax news agency quoted general Stanislav Kavun,
deputy commander of interior ministry troops, as saying the helicopter
was downed as it prepared to land near the Khankala base.
-
- "Preliminary data show that the helicopter was shot
down as it was about to land. Four people -- the crew and passengers --
died," Kavun said.
-
- An emergencies ministry spokesman in Moscow told Reuters
that the craft was attacked with a shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile.
-
- The attack came only days after 117 people died in the
worst hostage drama in Russia's history, when armed Chechen rebels seized
a Moscow theater and held some 800 hostages for nearly three days.
-
- Interfax quoted eyewitnesses as saying that after it
was hit, the helicopter spun for some time before crashing into the ground
and exploding.
-
- The crashed Mi-8 was the fourth helicopter to come down
under rebel fire in Chechnya in the last three months. Mi-8s, the workhorses
of Russia's helicopter fleet, are usually used as battle gunships in Chechnya
and are often targeted by rebels.
-
- In the worst single-day disaster to hit Russia's campaign
in the rebel region, a Mi-26 transport helicopter was shot down near Chechnya
in August with the loss of 124 lives.
-
-
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