November 14, 2001

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Around midnight, the village of Novye Aldy came under fire from large-caliber guns. Until the morning, local residents took refuge in the basements. During the shelling, 28-year-old Magomadova, who lived in Tsimlyansky lane, died. A two-year-old girl was left without a mother.

The same settlement was shelled two weeks earlier. Then the father of three children, Saidakhmed Parchaev from Mazaev Lane, died. When the shells began to explode, he was drinking tea in his kitchen.

Residents of Novy Aldy claimed that recently the shelling had become systematic; they were afraid to stay in their houses at night.

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On the eastern outskirts of the city of Urus-Martan, Zulikhan Pekhaeva, a mother of six children, the youngest of whom was only two years old, and the eldest was 16 years old, was seriously wounded. Together with her family, Pekhaeva lived on the outskirts of the city in the so-called. 1st microdistrict, adjacent to the gardens of the state farm named after Michurin. She followed the cows grazing near the gardens and stepped on a mine. As a result of the explosion, she received multiple shrapnel wounds and lost her leg.

Residents of the eastern quarters of the city have always grazed livestock in this place. And there were no incidents until November 6, when Adam Bersanov was wounded under very similar circumstances. According to residents of the microdistrict, the mining was carried out by the Russian military.

On the day Zulikhan Pekhaeva was wounded, a “cleansing” operation was carried out in the eastern part of Urus-Martan, including in the 1st microdistrict. The military checked people's personal documents and searched residential buildings. The searches were carried out in violation of the requirements of articles of the criminal procedural legislation of the Russian Federation. The participants in the operation did not introduce themselves or show any documents authorizing their actions. During the searches, no witnesses were invited, and no protocols were drawn up based on their results. None of the residents of the microdistrict were explained the reason why there were military personnel in their house. However, people were satisfied with how the “cleansing” took place. Unlike before, people were not detained, insulted or beaten; the military did not commit a single theft.

From the book “People Live Here”, Usam Baysaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006.