«During the first war, in 1996, my older brother Ruslan became a Shaheed (a martyr). During the last storm of Bamut he was in the Jamaat unit. And I have been a part of Jamaat unit ever since. In 1999 our unit went on the assistance mission to Botlikh, Dagestan. And we took Botlikh. Then we took Gamiakh, and five days later we returned to Chechnya. Chervlennaya was our first position. After the battle in Chervlennaya one of us became a Shaheed, his name was Musa. Our second position was Tersky Mountain Range. From there we withdrew to the outskirts of the village of Centaroi so that we don’t get surrounded. That’s where a sniper fired a shot at me, but I jumped back and with the help of the Most High I survived. And Musa was not that lucky – the sniper hit him and he became a Shaheed.
… December 20, 1999. City of Jokhar. We are holding our positions just outside Block 1 (residential neighborhood). Right now I am standing and watching a burning Russian Ural truck and an APC. I can see a Mujahid (a Chechen fighter) crawling to a dead Russian soldier near the truck to take the spoils. Now he is crawling back.
December 30. We have shootings going on. Yesterday our sharpshooter eliminated two soldiers who were running across the street.
Each morning I go out and see changes happening: either a wall is missing, or even an entire room. Russians want to smoke us out of the building because we are not letting them live a quiet life in this area. During the New Year’s Eve shootings have been continuing until morning.
January 1, 2000. Our grenade-launcher shooter became a Shaheed. He ran outside when he wanted to hit a BTR armored vehicle. The street was under fire from all directions. He didn’t make it. A burst of machinegun fire was heard, and he fell. We barely managed to drag him from the road by tying a hook to a stick. We received a replacement in six days.
January 2. Our groups took Argun, Mesker-Yurt, Alkhan-Yurt and Yermolovka. Then as part of a mobile compound we headed for the cannery. There we were digging trenches for two days in a row. As soon as we got settled, we saw infantry about twenty meters ahead of us. First we figured that these were our troops, because «gantamirovans» (Gantamirov’s collaborators) were with them. But as soon as we saw a radio on the back of one soldier, we knew they were the Kafirs (the infidels). One of our fighters fired a shot and it all started! They were firing right at our trenches. I got out to hide in the building, but one bullet whizzed right by me and I had to go back.
After waiting for just a minute, I tried to run into the building from the other side. But they saw me and opened fire. Tracer bullets started hitting the wall in front of me. But I did not get hit.
Two of our guys stayed in the trench – Akhmed and Musa. Over the radio they asked me to cover them. After me and Aslan entered the building, we assumed a comfortable position. Soon I spotted a Kafir about twenty meters away. I fired a number of shots. The Kafir fell. The rest of the soldiers hid behind the ruins. Musa and Ahmed ran inside the building. Praise Allah, I succeeded in backing them up. And all of a sudden I heard a sound of a tank behind us. The tank fired two shots at us. It didn’t make it the third time. Our guys in the neighboring building managed to go up to the second floor and set the tank on fire by using grenade launchers. The tank got shattered into smithereens. Only the bottom and the wheels had remained. The soldiers marching behind the hull were all killed. Then Russians made a smoke screen to carry out the corpses of their soldiers. We opened intense fire. When the smoke dissipated, there were even more corpses lying around. And it continued three times altogether.
On that day we also destroyed an armored personnel carrier. And again a fragmentation grenade blew a few meters away from me. This time I wasn’t that lucky: the fragments his me in the eye and in the arm. My arm wasn’t hit that deep and the bone was not damaged…
This battle lasted for six days. Then the replacement came and we headed for another block.
January 27. We attacked a building of a former school in the town of Kalinin. Our fighters headed by Beshir jumped in the building, eliminated a few Kafirs and then withdrew. Five of our guys became Shaheeds, including Commander (Amir) Ismail, Commander Khattab’s deputy. The invaders threw a bunch of pineapple hand grenades at him – his both legs were torn off and his arm was smashed. But Amir was still in command even though he was bleeding. He was one of the first who jumped in the school building and were wounded, and he was the last of the five to become a Shaheed.
Three Kafirs that were shooting at us were caught. We killed two of them and we left one alive because he surrendered. He was a soldier of 18-19 years of age.
On that day we were ordered to make camouflage cloaks. The order was issued by [Commander] Samil Basayev personally, and we fulfilled it.
January 28. At night we were told that we were leaving the city. We prepared quickly and we reached the Anisimov plant on the next day.
January 29. We were heading towards Yermolovka (Alkhan-Kala) through a minefield. Shamil Basayev, Lecha Dudayev, Hunkarpasha Israpilov, Aslanbek Jr., and Abdul- Malik Mezhidov were in the head of the column. And that’s where we were ambushed. It happened on a bridge across Sunzha River. They started shooting at us from their armored personnel carrier, their machineguns and grenade launchers.
We were stepping on mines. Many had their legs torn off. One of us fell right on a mine and his chest was torn open. Only by the mercy of Almighty Allah did we manage to cross the bridge.
But there we suffered serious casualties. Shamil Basayev had his leg torn off. Abdul-Malik sustained a serious injury too. Lecha Dudayev, Aslanbek, Jr., and Hunkarpasha died. And we had many more Shaheeds too.
That night we reached Yermolovka (Alkhan-Kala), all soak and wet and tired, and we stayed there overnight.
January 30. At night we headed for Zakan-Yurt from Yermolovka. There we were also attacked when they opened fire from an armored personnel carrier’s machinegun. Many were injured by bullets and fragments. One became a Shaheed. We were dragging our wounded on sleds.
February 1. After dark we headed for Shaami-Yurt. But they spotted us in the woods and started shooting from Grad («Hail») missile launchers. A few more of us became Shaheeds. After crossing the river (the water was real cold) we entered Shaami-Yurt. In that town we came under attack too. Four more of us became Shaheeds.
February 2. There are 45 of us remaining. As a storm group, we advanced from Shaami-Yurt to break through the encirclement. But we did not meet a single Russian. We entered Katyr-Yurt at 4:00 in the morning. There we attacked a Ural truck with soldiers on board. We did not come across anybody else there. During the whole day Katyr-Yurt was subjected to aerial bombing and attacked with all sorts of weaponry. We were ordered to hold out until dark and then advance towards Shalazhi.
The locals were giving us cordial reception in any village we entered. They were feeding us and warming us up. We can never forget that!!!
And the next unit moving behind us was ambushed. And the most disappointing thing was when the unit approached Katyr-Yurt. And why did that happen? Because they were smoking and talking…
February 3. We have full contact combats going on in Katyr-Yurt. Two became Shaheeds, two got wounded, and one was capture by the Kafirs. Many Russian killed, we managed to capture one of them. By the evening Russians retreated and started firing at the village from all sorts of weapons. Katyr-Yurt is on fire. Many houses destroyed.
February 4. Battles in Katyr-Yurt continue.
February 5. We were moving further, towards Valerik. While exiting Valerik we were attacked by Grad missiles again. Some of us were wounded.
February 6. We entered Gekhi-Chu. Locals gave us a friendly reception. They even slaughtered some cows for us…»
And this is where the diary of Shaheed Arsan Abubakarov ends.
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