According to accounts from survivors, a
refugee convoy consisting of about 50 people in seven or eight passenger cars and one bus marked with
white flags, was heading towards the border with the Russian republic of
Ingushetia, when they approached a federal
roadblock near the village of
Goyty. One survivor described masked OMON troops opening fire with
automatic rifles from their position in the nearby forest without warning. The bus exploded as bullets pierced its fuel tank. After the shooting, Russian soldiers gave
first aid and
painkillers to the handful of survivors and brought them to the hospital in
Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia, where journalists interviewed them. The incident happened just a few miles from a major battle at the crossroads of
Urus-Martan, which sits astride a road that Chechen militants were using as a supply line. Another battle was under way not far from there, in the village of . The
Russian Ministry of Defence stated that the media reports of this incident were
disinformation. Officials were quoted as saying that 30 vehicles were destroyed on roads leading out of Grozny, but that all the cars contained rebels, not civilians. They also said they had opened a safe passage out of Grozny for the thousands of civilians. == See also ==