This Day in Islamic Terrorism: Kizlyar

As part of the This Day in Islamic Terrorism series, we remember the Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis, Jan 9-18 1996.

The Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis, known in Russia as the terrorist act in Kizylar was a guerrilla raid conducted by the Chechen separatists in January 1996 during the First Chechen War, which soon turned into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.

The crisis culminated in a days-long fierce battle for the Dagestani border village of Pervomayskoye, resulting in the village of 1,200 people being completely destroyed by the Russian bombardment, while the rebels escaped with some of their hostages including captured servicemen. More than 100 people died during the crisis, including at least 41 civilians.

Kizlyar airbase raid

On January 9, 1996, "Lone Wolf" unit led by the Chechen separetist commander Salman Raduyev, allegedly acting on Dzhokhar Dudayev's order, launched a copycat raid in the style of the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis against the helicopter military airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar located in neighbouring republic of Dagestan.

A field commander Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov later said that he took over command of the operation from Raduyev after the latter failed in his mission to destroy the federal airbase, ammunition factory and other military and police installations in and around the city.[4] Only two or three helicopters were blown up at the airbase, but at least 33 people were killed in the assault and scores were injured.

Kizlyar hospital hostage crisis

Rebel fighters led by Raduyev then entered the town itself, where they took at least 2,000 to 3,400 hostages and held them at a local hospital and a nearby high-rise building and a bridge. (According to the Russian officials, there were "no more than 1,200" hostages taken.) At least 13 people were killed in street fighting and 19 in the following siege (including 24 civilians.

All but about 120 of captives were released the next day, after Russian authorities said they rebels must first release the hostages to get granted a safe passage back to Chechnya. About 160 hostages, some of them reportedly volunteers, were carried along by the guerrillas to act as human shields in order to deter Russian ambush along the route.

Siege of Pervomayskoye

The rebels then headed in the direction of Chechnya in the column of 11 buses and two trucks, but they were halted when a Russian attack helicopter suddenly opened fire on their convoy as it approached the border between the two republics. A group of 37 Novosibirsk OMON policemen, who escorted the convoy and were caught in a crossfire, surrendered to the Chechens. The rebels rushed for cover to the nearby village of Pervomayskoye , where they put the hostages into a local school and a mosque and put the captured policemen to build trenches.[8] According to Itar-Tass, the Chechens seized an additional 100 hostages from among the population of the village. Some of the civilians were reportedly given weapons while some captive policemen joined the by the gunmen.

Read more about the long and bloody history of Chechen 'rebels' habit of hostage taking.

Also read, Russia: A Timeline Of Terrorism Since 1995.