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The Casualties

Many around me died, they were lying without their heads and feet. I remember one young man, when we gathered dead bodies, he didn’t have arms or legs. I walked up to him, he looked at me: “Please give me a pill [pain killer].” - Luiza

A large number of people died in the attack, including numerous women and children, and many more were wounded. Many of the dead, who had been refugees from all over Chechnya, were never identified. They were buried in nearby villages.

All eyewitnesses spoke of seeing large numbers of dead people and several of them helped collect the bodies. People made claims as to the total number of casualties that varied widely. One man who helped collect the wounded and dead said a total of seventy-nine people had died.⁶⁰ Another man was told that forty-three people had died, including eighteen children.⁶¹ The direct hits of the bus and a truck, both full of displaced people, appear to have caused the majority of casualties. Eyewitnesses have estimated that around thirty and forty people died in those vehicles respectively. In addition, it appears that at least several dozen people in other vehicles that either suffered a direct hit or were hit by shrapnel. It remains unclear how many people died when a rocket landed in a field next to the road.

It is unlikely that the exact number of casualties will ever be known. Human Rights Watch knows the names of only ten people who died in the attack. Interviews with eyewitnesses indicate that among the dead were people from Shali (six), Itum Kale (two), 15 Molochnyi Sovkhoz (one), Naur (one), Staraia Sunzha (four), Argunski Sovkhoz (two), and Grozny (two).

Eyewitnesses said that the dead and the wounded were taken to villages in the area--Shaami Yurt, Zakan Yurt, Achkhoi Martan, Samashki and Urus Martan. According to one woman, twenty dead bodies were taken to Zakan Yurt and eleven to Shaami Yurt. Many of the bodies were buried without being identified. The woman believed over sixty unidentified bodies had been buried in Samashki, Urus Martan and Zakan Yurt.⁶²