105 small militant groups active in North Caucasus - general
20/04/2006 13:07 GROZNY, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - There are currently 105 small armed groups active in the North Caucasus, with a total of 780 members, a senior military commander said Thursday.
Commenting on clashes with militant groups in Daghestan and Ingushetia this week, Maj. Gen. Oleg Khotin, deputy head of the North Caucasus group of federal forces, said the groups are continually on the move from region to region.
"The groups are replenished with militants arriving from adjacent regions of Georgia, Ingushetia and Daghestan under the guise of displaced people as well as through recruitment of young people," Khotin said, adding that foreign mercenaries were also involved.
He said the nature of the groups' activity had changed from large-scale resistance to criminal sallies, due to the work of Chechen police and federal forces.
But he said not all supply channels of financial and technical aid to militants have been cut off, and sabotage operations in the North Caucasus are still possible.
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