According to an Aldi resident who prior to the war worked in the administration of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, the pre-war population of Aldi was 27,000, most of whom fled the fighting. This witness said there were approximately 2,000 people left on February 5. 6 Aldi borders a large reservoir, intersected by a dam, over which runs a road to Chernorechie, a district that neighbors Aldi to the west. There are none of the high-rise apartment blocks in Aldi that are characteristic of most of the suburban areas of the city. Rather, the homes are largely single or two-story separate houses, located in family compounds sometimes containing two houses and often a stable.
Most compounds have their own high-gated entrance into a communal front yard.
The current military campaign in Chechnya began in September 1999. It was sparked by an armed incursion by Chechen fighters into the neighboring republic of Dagestan in August and a series of apartment building bombings in September that claimed the lives of almost 300 civilians. Russian authorities blamed Chechens for the bombings. In November, Russian troops fought hard to encircle the city and cut off supply lines from the south. Russian forces exhibited an even greater reliance on rocket, artillery, and aerial bombardment than that witnessed in the 1994-1996 war.