First formed in 1979 as an elite, first strike, anti-terrorism weapon, KARKOV was comprised of volunteers from across the Russian Special Forces. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the American Military forming DELTA units to combat anti-terrorism. “If it’s good enough for the Americans—it was a necessity for the Russians,” was a common joke in the KARKOV community.
KARKOV achieved its legendary status in the counter-terrorism world with its 1994 dramatic rescue of 65 Aeroflot passengers from militant Islamic terrorists in Azerbaijan. With the Russian jet parked on the Tarmac and ten, armed to the teeth terrorists on board, KARKOV troops stormed the jet with 20 of its own troops. Within the ensuing 2 minutes, all ten terrorists lay dead from clean shots to the head.
For seven years Captain Isinov and his fellow KARKOV members pressured the Russian Duma to release them for service in Chechnya. Under mounting pressure due to heavy losses, the Russian government finally relented and allowed them into combat.
With KARKOV being in a position to act independently of the main forces, this enabled them to undertake missions that they alone planned, not to be used as fodder or replacement troops.
As KARKOV’s reputation grew due to its military actions in Chechnya, they eventually received carte blanche to undertake any mission, anytime, anywhere. The government-sponsored newspapers began touting KARKOV’s military prowess; writing lengthy articles on their exploits as they tried to single handedly save the reputation of the Russian Army in Chechnya.
After receiving much fanfare in Moscow, even the Russian President followed KARKOV’s daily exploits in dispatches and reports from his on-site Commanders. With this type of notoriety, no Russian Field Commander would dare turn down a KARKOV request for support unless he was prepared to explain his justification to the Russian President himself.
Captain Isinov’s men placed a 3-sided box grid of 15 anti-personnel mines before the snow had fallen, placing two groups of five mines in straight lines on both sides of the path and an additional five in front of the “box.” This allowed an unsuspecting group to walk in but provided no clear exit.
The mines were of the new sensor class. When contact with the first mine was established, they would all explode in unison, decimating an entire platoon if the mines were positioned correctly.
Captain Isinov directed two of his men to position themselves on opposite sides of the trail. He then placed the remaining two in the rear to effectively “close the box,” providing a classic, textbook ambush. From previous information, the footpath in front of them operated as the main “road” between the rebel front and their Mujahedeen Headquarters in the rear.
From his vantage point Captain Isinov had a difficult time viewing his men as they burrowed themselves into the natural environment with the snow providing additional ground cover for their positions. A sense of pride overcame Captain Isinov.
The rebel units contained some of the best mountain fighters he had ever come to know. They could infiltrate an unsuspecting unit’s defenses in a matter of minutes, killing most, if not all, before quickly, melting away. Of course, it could never happen to a KARKOV unit.
In the latest incident, KARKOV troops were able to pick up the trail and hunt down the rebel unit associated with several of the atrocities. Catching them less than 15 kilometers from the previous incident, killing them in the same manner in which they had doled out to the Russian forces. The men even decapitated some of the rebel victims for mounting on sticks and poles, placing them around the overrun rebel camp for their comrades to view.
Due to their success, the Russian High Command selected KARKOV troops to seek out the location of the rebel headquarters. They hoped KARKOV could pinpoint the location for a massive strike by the Russian Air Force.
This mission would test the effectiveness of the KARKOV unit’s to operate in the harsh, mountainous, Chechnya environment. Previous Special Forces attempts had failed to achieve any note of satisfaction with the High Command, with most units slaughtered or forced to retreat.
Previous actions cost the Russian military many specialized troops and a bounty of equipment that the rebels quickly turned against the occupying Russian troops.
The Russian Special Forces were excellent fighters on open terrain where the enemy couldn’t find suitable cover. When it came to fighting in the mountainous terrain south of Grozny, they were totally inept in comparison to the rebel forces. These high-profile failures led the Russian Army Command to finally buckle and open the door for KARKOV participation.
After five hours of patiently waiting for their bounty, they were rewarded with what appeared to be a column of rebels moving silently along the trail and directly for their “box.” Upon seeing the distant figures slowly approach his troop’s position Captain Isinov silently released his safety from his TAC-nine. He also placed a grenade in front of his position on a bed of fresh snow. He now lay in wait as the rebels walked single-file in a haphazard fashion no more than 20 meters from their positions. He counted 11 rebels. Each bundled against the piercing cold in layers of colorfully assorted clothing, resembling a moving circus train, all topped with traditional head garb.
The rebel group leader had placed three men in front of the column, and two in the rear, all heavily armed as they wearily eyed the surrounding woods. The remaining six rebels walked in the middle of the column with their weapons slung over their shoulders, carrying boxes of ammunition on solid wood poles, strung between them in groups of two, each box resembling a pig on a split.
They walked unknowingly into the ambush on a trail they had probably walked numerous times before. Suddenly one of them stepped onto the first contact mine that lay in his path. The force of the resulting explosion lifted the now legless body 5 feet into the air, dropping him back down with a dull thud. The ripping explosion turned bone fragments from the man’s legs into shrapnel, slicing through the soldier following him, killing him instantly.
The first explosion then triggered the remaining 14 mines to detonate on both sides of the column, sending jagged pieces of hot metal in all directions around them, killing two outright and wounding the remainder.
Captain Isinov and his troops took advantage of the confusion, firing short bursts from their concealed positions, eliminating six more of the rebels before they even had a chance to use their weapons.
The last rebel in the rear of the column dove behind a cluster of rocks that shielded him from his attacker’s bullets.
It would have been easy for Captain Isinov to toss a grenade into the rock cluster and be on their way, but this was the prisoner they required. The rebel must be taken alive. In order to have an interrogation — they required someone who could still talk.
Sirna Muliruid realized the hopeless position he was in, firing bursts from his concealed position, hoping to keep his attackers at bay until Allah could provide some assistance. If he could hold them off for a few minutes, maybe they would vanish just as quickly as they appeared. The shooting and explosions might possibly attract some of his fellow Mujahedeen soldiers from their positions north of here. He wiped blood from his weathered face, evidently a piece of shrapnel had found its mark above his untrimmed beard. All he could do was hope and pray as he reloaded his AK-47 with the last of his ammunition. What an irony, enough ammunition to hold off an army was only meters away and here I am with nothing left to fight with.