The Shatoy ambush (known in Russia as the (Battle of Yaryshmardy) was an April 16, 1996, attack by forces of an en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab-born commander en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Khattab near the town of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy in the southern mountains of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya , during the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War The attack wrecked the column of the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia 2nd Battalion from the 245th Motor Rifle Regiment (MRR) and killed 53 servicemen and injured 52, according to the official Russian figures.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-telegraph-0 The first reports by the officials spoked of only 26 killed and 51 wounded.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-1 According to the other sources, more than 70http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-4 to almost 100http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-fsb-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-two-8 to even 223http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-9 soldiers of the 245th MRR died in the ambush. A few civilians who were traveling with the convoy were also reportedly killed.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-amina-10According to the second-hand account by the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland volunteer Mirosław Kuleba (aka Władysław Wilk/Mehmed Borz), Khattab's detachment of 43 men chose a "perfect en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush spot" with a en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravine and a en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream on one side and a forested en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope on the other side of a serpentine mountain road: the rebels first let the Russian recon squad through and then detonated an en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_explosive_device under the leading en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank ; simultaneously, a volley of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket-propelled_grenade hit the unit's command vehicle, killing the Russian commander instantly, and the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_personnel_carrier at the end the column - after this, the Chechens opened 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.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-kuleba-11According to the Russian book Chechenskiy Kapkan, up to 100 fighters ambushed the column of 30 Russian armoured vehicles, almost 100 soldiers were killed and "only eight escaped with their lives".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-two-8 According to the U.S. book The Wolves of Islam, the destroyed convoy numbered 50 vehicles (trucks, fuel tankers, APCs and a mine-clearing en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-80 tank) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatoy_ambush#cite_note-12 and by Khattab's own count more than 200 soldiers were killed.