The Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site reported that...

The Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site reported that mercenaries from the Interior Ministry's internal troops hanged seven people on a gas pipe in the centre of Alkhan-Kale village on June 20. Another 11 people, also from this village, were publicly shot. The Russian mercenaries were carrying out General [Gennadiy] Troshev's orders on the introduction of public executions in Chechnya, the web-site said. A woman was among the people shot.
Special units of the Justice Ministry, Interior Ministry, the FSS [Russian Federal Security Service] and Main Intelligence Department - the entire Russian military "elite" - took part in this operation. They first shelled the village, then entered it and started killing with small arms.Seeing that there were no Chechen soldiers there, they started plundering the village. They took everything valuable - plates and dishes, carpets, furniture and so on. During the "clearance operation" they also took some 500 people hostage.
Relatives were told if they wanted to see their sons and daughters, they should pay a ransom of up to 1,000 dollars per person.