Dair ambush

Dair ambush was a small-scale attack by the Chechen separatists which killed seven Mordovian OMON special policemen in a road ambush near the village of Dair in southern Chechnya. It was speculated by the Russian military source that the ambush was a test and military training exercise for the young rebels.

The attack occurred when a police convoy was returning to base in the Shatoy region, and killed the unit's deputy commander Captain Sergey Pivtsaikin, while a police Major was seriously wounded. Pro-Moscow Chechen officials said the gunmen blew up a UAZ minivan before opening brief small arms fire.

The deaths had a demoralising effect on the Mordovian police force in Chechnya. Another Mordovian OMON trooper was killed three day earlier on November 5 by an improvised explosive device near Khimoi. On November 14 Russian media reports said that three members of the detachment had gone AWOL after the incident and were not seen since.
 
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