Shatoy ambush

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Shatoy ambush

Date	April 16, 1996
Location	Yaryshmardy, Chechnya
Result	Chechen victory

Combatants

Russian Army

Chechen militia
Foreign fighters

Commanders

N/A

Ibn al-Khattab

Strength

Several hundred

At least 50

Casualties

Official losses:
53 killed, 52 wounded
Other estimates:
100-223 killed

Official losses:
5 killed

The Shatoy ambush was a battle during the First Chechen War during which forces of an Arab commander Ibn al-Khattab destroyed the reconnaissance company and 2nd Motor Rifle Battalion column of the 245th Motorized Rifle Regiment in an ambush near Shatoy in southern Chechnya.

The attack killed 53 servicemen and wounded 52, according to the official Russian figures. According to the other sources, about 100 soldiers of the 245th Motorized Rifle Regiment were killed, and some estimates range as high as 223 dead, including 26 "senior officers."

According to Khattab only five members of the 50-men ambush force died in the attack. A grisly video of the aftermath of the ambush, "with Khattab walking triumphantly down a line of blackened Russian corpses" [1], gained him the early fame and a great notoriety in Russia.

However, the ambush allowed ^[specify] other Russian forces to deploy (remaining troops of the 245th MRR, the 324th MRR, combined battalion of the 104th Airborne Division and reinforced battalion of the 7th Airborne Division), which resulted in the capture of Chechen arms stockpiles and eventually Shatoy itself.