attacks by Russian attack helicopters, apparently unaware that some of their own men were hiding in the forest, failed to dislodge the rebels. A second Perm OMON column of 107 troops was then sent to the rescue from the Interior Ministry base in Vedeno, but was itself attacked by more rebels on Height 817, located from the ambush site. Six troops in the relief column were killed and 15 wounded before the relief mission was called off. Radio contact with the trapped convoy was lost at 2:30 pm. Some injured Russians killed themselves with their own grenades, eleven were captured, while five managed to hide or escape. Aftermath At first, Russian officials attempted to hide the losses. On the same day, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo claimed that the situation in Chechnya "is being fully controlled" by Russian forces. Despite the fact that only five soldiers got away, the Kremlin's Chechnya spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told reporters that "of the 49 troops who were in the column yesterday, 16 are alive and doing well. They are absolutely safe now." Russian units managed to secure the former battlefield two days later, on the afternoon of 31 March. They spent the next two days collecting the booby-trapped corpses, many of them reportedly mutilated. One badly wounded OMON officer was also found alive three days after the ambush. The rebels said they executed nine of their prisoners, publicly shooting them on the morning of 4 April 2000. According to the statement, the prisoners were shot because the Russians had turned down an offer to exchange them for tank unit commander Yuri Budanov, who was arrested in Russia on charges of raping and killing an 18-year-old Chechen woman named Elza Kungayeva. On 30 April, their corpses were found near the village of Dargo, reportedly beheaded. Meanwhile, three officers from the elite unit Alpha Group of the FSB were killed by a land mine during the search for the hostages. Mikhail Labunets, commander of the North Caucasus Internal Troops District, accused an airborne regiment stationed in Vedeno of failing to come to the rescue and said it was almost impossible for OMON units to secure proper air and fire support because of the long-standing enmity between the federal army and the police. Interior Minister Rushailo flew to Chechnya on 4 April to assess the allegations and ordered a full investigation. Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev blamed