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Police Targeted by Islamists in Ingushetia

   Diana Markosian | Moscow  February 03, 2011
   Interior  Ministry  troops patrol a motorway from the town of Malgobek
   to Nazran in the Russian region of Ingushetia January 28, 2011

Photo: Reuters

   Interior  Ministry  troops patrol a motorway from the town of Malgobek
   to Nazran in the Russian region of Ingushetia January 28, 2011

   Abzulit Shauxalov, 31, sinks into the soft blue cushions of his living
   room sofa. He breathes deeply to quiet his pounding heart. His body is
   shaking  and covered with sweat. With support from two metal poles, he
   has just walked six feet across his living room.
   âI  did  better today,â said Shauxalov, a former policeman, whose legs
   were  paralyzed  after  he was shot while on duty in Russiaâs volatile
   Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
   Shauxalov,  now  31,  was  stationed  at a checkpoint near his home in
   Karabulak,  just  20 kilometers from the Ingush capital of Magas, when
   someone shot him in the back. It was his 28th birthday.
   âI  fell  to  the  ground, and then noticed my legs couldn't move,â he
   said.
   Shauxalov  and his colleagues are victims to Islamic militant violence
   in Ingushetia, which has killed 400 police officers over the past five
   years.This  revolt  flared  into  world  headlines two weeks ago when,
   police say a young man from the Caucasus detonated a massive bomb in a
   Moscow airport, killing and wounding a total of 200 people.
   âPolice are targets,â said Magomed Mutsolgov, head of the Ingush human
   rights  organization, MARSH. âMy cousin was killed a few years ago. He
   was  a  policeman.  When they shot him, he was sitting in his car with
   his baby.â
   âHis  wife  went  to the shop to buy medicine. She put her 6 month old
   baby  in the back seat. When she came back, she said: âLetâs go, letâs
   go.â  When  she  looked  over,  she  noticed  blood  all over him. The
   situation here is out of control.â

   Slide show reflecting on the culture of Ingushetia Republic

   Abzulit Shauxalovâs brother, Ruslan, is also a police officer.
   "I  tell  people  not  to go out unless they have to,â says Shauxalov,
   whose  younger  brother  was shot in front of him. âI am scared for my
   family.  I  sleep  with  a  gun, in a separate room from my family. If
   someone shoots at me, they won't kill my family.â
   Abzulit  who  is  now  wheelchair  bound  with a spinal injury says he
   believes in being a police officer.
   "It  is  a  dangerous  job,  but  if I donât do it, who will? I have a
   responsibility,â he said.
   Financial reasons also compel Shauxalov brothers and his colleagues to
   put  their  lives  on  the  line.  While salaries for officers are low
   (around  $230  a  month), Ingushetia suffers a 50-percent unemployment
   rate and is one of the poorest republics in Russia.  For many, a gun,
   a badge and uniform are the only options.
   Russian  security forces respond to attacks on police and officials by
   carrying out special operations in towns and villages across the North
   Caucasus.
   As  rights-activist  Mutsolgov  explains it, they act on intelligence,
   seal off streets, and fire on anyone in sight.
   Despite  the  constant  violence,  Ingush  leader  Yunus-Bek  Yevkurov
   believes the situation is improving.
   "The  situation in the North Caucasus has become much better,â he told
   reporters recently. âLife gets better and better every year."
   In  August,  a  temporary  moratorium  on  killing police officers was
   announced  by  the  Ingushetian wing of Caucasus emirate, the regional
   umbrella group for the Islamic Insurgency.
   The Caucasus Emirate website said that the moratorium was called, âNot
   because  we  do not have the strength to kill them in their homes, but
   because  we  hope that they will reconsider and show understanding for
   our position.â
   In  2009,  Islamic  militants  killed  75 police officers in this tiny
   republic. In 2010 the figure fell to 30.
   But behind the figures and positive statements there are ruined lives.
   For Shauxalov and hundreds of his fellow police officers, it is simply
   too late.
   âWar  is  easier  than life in Ingushetia,â said Shauxalov. âThere you
   know  who your enemy and friend is. Here any civilian can kill you for
   any reason. You can't be prepared."

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