The attack wrecked the column of the
Russian 2nd Battalion from the 245th Motor Rifle Regiment (MRR) and killed 53 servicemen and injured 52, according to the official Russian figures. According to the other sources, up to a 100 to over a 100 soldiers of the 245th MRR died in the ambush. A few civilians who were travelling with the convoy were also reportedly killed. According to the second-hand account by the
Polish journalist Mirosław Kuleba (aka Władysław Wilk/Mehmed Borz), Khattab's detachment of 43 men chose a "perfect
ambush spot" with a
ravine and a
stream on one side and a forested
slope on the other side of a serpentine mountain road: the rebels first let the Russian recon squad through and then detonated an
IED under the leading
tank; simultaneously, a volley of
RPGs hit the unit's command vehicle, killing the Russian commander instantly, and the
APC at the end the column - after this, the Chechens opened heavy machine gun fire on the rest of the Russian unit. Kuleba wrote that the three-hour attack burned 27 armoured vehicles and trucks in the convoy and just 12 out of 199 Russian soldiers survived "the slaughter", while the rebel losses were only three killed and six wounded. According to the Russian book
Chechenskiy Kapkan, up to 100 fighters ambushed the column of 30 Russian armoured vehicles, almost or up to 100 soldiers were killed and "only eight or nine soldiers escaped with their lives". ==Aftermath==