12-year-old boy killed by sniper

On November 26, a 12-year-old son of local Shirvani Gaziyev was killed by a shot fired from a sniper rifle in the village of Elistanzhi, Chechnya's Vedeno district. Representatives of the Russian military commandant's office who arrived to the site of occurrence on the same day admitted that the child had died through the federals' fault. However, they declared at once that the shooters were completely innocent as they were allegedly repulsing separatists' attack. A stray bullet killed the boy, they said. But locals are convinced it was a willful homicide.