Alkhan-Kala operation
The Alkhan-Kala operation was a zachistka operation by Russian forces in Alkhan-Kala, Chechnya, starting on 25 June 2001, during the Chechen War. The week-long sweep of Alkhan-Kala erupted into armed clashes with Chechen separatists, and the initial raid resulted in the death of Arbi Barayev, a high-ranking Chechen insurgent commander and organized crime leader.
Background
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria had been de facto independent from Russia since the beginning of the First Chechen War in 1994. During this independence the secular government weakened, and Chechnya came under the increasing influence of warlords and Islamist rule. In August 1999, the War of Dagestan began when Chechen Islamists invaded the Russian state of Dagestan, but were defeated by the Russian military in a month. The War of Dagestan was used as a casus belli to trigger the Second Chechen War, when Russian federal troops entered Chechnya and ended its independence. By June 2000, the war had entered an "insurgency phase", where Russian troops would perform several day-long zachistka operations in Chechen villages.Operation
On 22 June 2001, Russian troops launched a zachistka on Alkhan-Kala, a large village south-west of Grozny, triggering an armed clash with Chechen separatists. Alkhan-Kala was the home village of Arbi Barayev, one of the most powerful separatist warlords in Chechnya and founder of the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment, an Islamist organized crime syndicate that had terrorized Chechnya during its de facto independence after the First Chechen War. Officially, Barayev was reported killed in action in the initial raid, and his body was later handed over to his family. Barayev's death had previously been reported by Russian media several times, only to re-emerge unscathed every time, however, after the raid the Kavkaz Center announced that "Special Islamic commander Arbi Barayev has become a martyr."The battle between Russian forces and Chechen separatists continued for six days and resulted in the massive destruction of Alkhan-Kala, with house-to-house fighting leaving dozens of homes destroyed. According to the Russian officials, many of Barayev's accomplices were killed and some 800 villagers were taken into the custody.