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DATE=8/31/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / DAGESTAN (L)
NUMBER=2-253295
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Russian troops are in the third-day of an 
offensive against Islamic militants who control 
several villages in the Karamakhi region of Dagestan.  
Correspondent Eve Conant in Moscow reports thousands 
of refugees have fled the region as government forces 
pound the villages with aircraft and artillery.
TEXT:  Russian and Dagestani government forces are 
using helicopter gunships and heavy artillery to try 
to dislodge militant Muslims who imposed strict 
Islamic law in the region last year. 
The area, called Karamakhi, is considered the heart of 
Islamic fundamentalism in Dagestan.  Since the 
imposition of Sharia law, residents are forbidden to 
listen to music or take photographs, and women are 
required to wear Islamic dress covering their face, 
arms, and legs.
The villages had a total population of 10-thousand.  
Interior Ministry officials say up to eight-thousand 
refugees have fled the mountainous area, about 80-
kilometers east of where federal forces fought Islamic 
militants earlier in August. 
This latest conflict is part of the government's 
efforts to stamp out Islamic militants in the volatile 
northern Caucasus region.
Russian military officials are trying to minimize 
casualties by focusing on air attacks instead of 
employing ground troops.  They also have set up a 
special telephone number for relatives of soldiers to 
check on their status.
Here, a woman gives the operator the name of her son 
and the military unit he is fighting in.
            ///  PHONE CONVERSATION - IN RUSSIAN - 
FADE UNDER  ///
She learns that her son is not on the list of the 
dead.
Russian officials say up to 80-militants and seven-
Russian soldiers have been killed in the past few 
days.  But there is no independent confirmation, and 
in the past enemy casualty figures have been 
exaggerated.
Federal forces are using rockets to try to drive out 
the militants, but officials say the gunmen are well-
trained fighters who are proving difficult to defeat.   
(SIGNED)
NEB/EC/JWH/RAE
31-Aug-1999 10:50 AM LOC (31-Aug-1999 1450 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.