2004 Nazran raid The Nazran raid was a large - scale raid carried out in the Republic of Ingushetia , Russia , on the night of June 21 – 22 , 2004 , by a large number of mostly Chechen and Ingush militants led by the Chechen commander Shamil Basayev . Basayev ' s main goal , besides capturing a large cache of weapons , was a show of strength . The attacks . The overnight attacks targeted 15 government buildings in the former Ingush capital and the largest city , Nazran , and three settlements located on the Baku - Rostov highway that crosses the republic from east to west ( Karabulak , Sleptsovskaya and Yandare ) . The targets of simultaneous attacks included the Interior Ministry ( MVD ) headquarters with an arms depot , an FSB border guard unit , the municipal police headquarters , barracks of the OMON special police , police stations and checkpoints . The attackers also tried but failed to free 50 prisoners from a temporary jail and dispersed at 3 a . m . , before the column of federal army troops managed to reach Nazran just after dawn at 4 a . m . One Russian military convoy was also ambushed en route from North Ossetia and suffered casualties . Witnesses to the attacks told Russian media that most of the attackers spoke the Ingush language and wore masks and camouflage uniforms similar to those worn by the Russian police . The rebels patrolled Nazran , setting roadblocks and stopping motorists , asking to see their documents . Any law enforcement officials they encountered were then shot and killed , with exception of traffic policemen who were spared . The raid lasted nearly five hours , and the raiders withdrew almost unscathed and with two truckloads with 1 , 177 seized firearms . The Interior Ministry building and Nazran train station were burned down . Ingush officials said the rebels took some 20 hostages , mostly the traffic police officers . The day before the attack , Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov , speaking for RFE / RL , claimed rebels are " going to switch to offensive warfare " . In July 2004 , Maskhadov publicly accepted responsibility for the attack and promised more similar attacks . Casualties . According to the official figures , 92 people were killed in the raid , including at least 47 police officials , a number later revised downward to 98 . The final toll included 27 civilians , 26 policemen ( 24 Ingush and two Chechen ) , 10 special forces servicemen , nine soldiers ( six Russian and three Ingush ) , eight FSB agents , five employees of the local prosecutor ' s office , at least two guerrillas and three unidentified people . About 106 people were injured , including 51 members of government forces . The largest group of the dead were local police and other law enforcement officials , whom the rebels said they killed for collaborating with Russian security services in kidnappings and killings of Ingush civilians suspected of sympathizing with the rebels . The killed officials included the republic ' s acting Interior Minister Abukar Kostoyev , his deputy Zyaudin Kotiyev , Nazran city prosecutor Mukharbek Buzurtanov and Nazran district prosecutor Bilan Oziyev . A number of civilians , including the Ingush health minister and a local UN worker , were killed in the crossfire . Only two dead rebels were found in the morning after attack , but the rebel Kavkaz Center website said the attackers lost six men killed . The KC statement also said that over 120 " servants of Russia " were killed in the attack and 30 policemen were captured . Aftermath . Army General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov , the Russian Deputy Interior Minister and the commander of Russia ' s Internal Troops ( VV ) , decided to resign after Federal Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev blamed them for the high number of deaths . After Tikhomirov ' s resignation , the VV remained without a head for a month . Some 30 suspected rebels , mostly Ingush , were arrested in the next two months over their part in the Nazran raid . Several days after the September 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis , Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Vladimir Kolesnikov said 10 of the weapons stolen in Nazran were used in the Beslan attack . One of the demands of Beslan terrorists was also the release of the raid suspects . In 2005 , 13 of them were convicted and sentenced to 8 – 25 years in prison .