Killed rebels' bodies leave Nalchik

At 7:00 p.m. on 3 November, three refrigerator cars with the bodies of killed rebels were linked and left Nalchik, Caucasian Knot's correspondent was told by some killed rebels' relatives who had hoped to get the bodies and bury them until the very last moment. With this request they had addressed various republican and federal authorities. However, their request had been ignored.

Relatives were not allowed to see the dead and say goodbye go them before they would be brought away.

Meanwhile, there is information which has also been announced by the president of Kabardino-Balkaria that there are people among the dead who were not members of illegal armed formations. Such people number around 20, the president said.

Many in Nalchik believe failure to give out the rebels' bodies to be the most serious blunder of the government and law enforcement agencies of Kabardino-Balkaria, a blunder that can cause new unrest in the republic.

Ninety-two rebels were killed as a result of the attack on Kabardino-Balkaria's law enforcement and security agencies on 13 October. Thirty-five officers of law enforcement and security agencies and twelve civilians died too.

The attack was preceded by repressions against young Muslims on the part of Kabardino-Balkaria's law enforcement agencies for a long period of time. Various media covered this more than once. One of the most recent protest actions was an address by 400 Muslims to the Russian president and other authorities with a request to allow them to leave for any country where the rights of believers are protected. "They did that to avenge and die," the relatives of those killed during the attack on Nalchik believe.

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