January 15 2005 sieges in Dagestan

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January 15 2005 sieges were two raids of the Russian security forces on a rebel safehouses in Dagestan. At least five Russian commandos and six rebels died in the clashes.

In the first incident, the government forces surrounded a group of five rebel fighters in a two-story house on the outskirts of Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan. For 17 hours, the rebels battled Russian special forces supported by armoured vehicles and a helicopter, killing one of elite Alpha Group commandos and wounding another, until a tank smashed the remains of the burned and gutted house.[1]

The group was blamed of killing over 30 officers of the Dagestan MVD and the local branch of the FSB.

In a separate clash this day, special police task force stormed another house in Dagestan's port of Kaspiisk to arrest a separate group of militants, leaving dead three police commandos, including commander Arzulum Ilyasov. One rebel was killed and one wounded, the third one escaped.

In the weeks preceding the raids, Dagestani insurgents have derailed two trains, sabotaged gas supplies and shot dead a high-ranking intelligence officer from Moscow.