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"The Associated Press"
June, 25th 2008
MOSCOW (AP) — A New York-based rights watchdog said Wednesday that Russian security forces are responsible for widespread human rights abuses in the southern province of Ingushetia near Chechnya.
Security forces in Ingushetia have been fighting militants who staged frequent attacks on police and local authorities in a bid to promote Islamic rule in the Caucasus.
In a report released Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said it has documented dozens of summary and arbitrary detentions, acts of torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions committed by security forces combatting insurgents in Ingushetia.
There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities, who rarely comment on such allegations.
Human Rights Watch urged the Russian government to change what it called "brutal" counterinsurgency policies and punish those responsible for violations in Ingushetia, which the rights group compared to rampant rights abuses during the two wars in neighboring Chechnya.
Human Rights Watch said in the report that "dirty war" tactics against insurgents would likely further destabilize the situation in Ingushetia and beyond in the North Caucasus.
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