The fighting in Russia's Southern republics. We start with some background from Spencer Michels. For nearly a week, there's been fighting between Russian soldiers and pro-independence guerrillas in the Russian Republic of Dagestan. And now the predominantly Muslim rebels have turned a political conflict into a religious cause, calling for a holy war and for Dagestan's independence from the Russian Federation. Dagestan lies next to the breakaway Republic of Chechnya, and its population is complex mix of nationalities.
Western scholars regard it as lawless and wild.
That insurrection cost Russia about 3,000 military casualties and much criticism from Muslim and other nations for the destruction of much of that province and tens of thousands of civilian deaths. I want to say that time has come to liberate ourselves from the Russian tyranny. The Jihad must go on. We will accomplish our struggle only when will liberate whole of Dagestan. Last weekend, the rebels seized several villages in the mountainous region.