Place of interview: refugee camp in Ingushetia

Interview date: unknown

The interviewee is a resident of the city of Grozny. Together with her three children, she moved to Urus-Martan believing that it would be safer there.

She recalls events that occurred on October 2, 2000 between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. The woman and her children were hiding from the bombing and shelling of the city in the basement of a house under construction in the area of ​​the seventh school on 2nd Aslanbek Sheripov Street. When the bombing began, glass, bricks and stones began to fall on the roof of the house. Almost immediately after this, the neighbours also ran into the basement. Upon counting, they discovered that a total of 26 people had sought refuge in the basement. The same day, a school and some residential buildings were bombed in the area. These attacks also sustained casualties.

One of the bombs hit the basement of a house on the neighbouring Sovetskaya Street. 12 people, including women and children, were killed. These victims were buried the next day. According to the interviewee, entire families had been killed who were mostly refugees that had travelled – like herself – to Urus-Martan in the hope that it would be safe. The woman knew about the death of a man, but she could not recall his last name.

That same night, the woman and her children left Urus-Martan. She could no longer stay there.