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Introduction

Civilians fleeing to Ingushetia and other parts of Chechnya to escape fighting often risked attack while en route, particularly during the first phase of the war (September 1999 - March 2000). In at least five separate incidents, Russian forces appear to have deliberately bombed, shelled, or fired upon civilian convoys, causing significant civilian casualties. Individual civilian vehicles were also fired upon on numerous occasions. The most egregious attack occurred on October 29, 1999 when dozens of civilian vehicles taking a so-called safe route out of Grozny on the Baku-Rostov highway were attacked by Russian aircraft. The frequency of the attacks on fleeing civilians left many civilians trapped in areas of active conflict, contributing indirectly to the high death toll of the conflict.