‘Terrorist attack’ at Russian firing range leaves 11 dead, 15 injured

At least 11 people were killed and 15 wounded in a suspected terrorist attack on a Russian military firing range in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that the two attackers, residents of an unnamed former Soviet state who fired on volunteer soldiers during target practice were killed in retaliatory fight.

The ministry called the incident a terrorist attack.

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“On October 15, two citizens of a CIS (Commonwealth Independent State) country committed an act of terror at training range of the Western military district in the Belgorod region,” the defence ministry said.

The shooting comes amid a hasty mobilisation ordered by President Vladimir Putin to beef up Russian forces in Ukraine a move that triggered protests and caused hundreds of thousands to flee Russia.

On Friday, Putin said that over 2,20,000 reservists already had been called up as part of an effort to recruit 3,00,000. He promised the mobilisation would be wrapped up in two weeks.

The mobilisation was troubled from the start, with authorities issuing confusing signals about who should be called up for service in a country where almost all men under age 65 are listed as reservists. Even though the Russian leader declared that only people who had recently served in the military would be subject to the call-up, activists and rights groups reported military conscription offices rounding up people without any army experience some of whom were also unfit for service for medical reasons.

Some of the freshly called-up reservists posted videos of themselves being forced to sleep on the floor or even outside and given rusty weapons before being sent to the front lines.

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Russian media reports said some of those who were mobilised were sent to combat without receiving proper training and were quickly killed. Authorities have acknowledged the mobilisation was often poorly organised and promised to improve the situation.

(With inputs from agencies)