Chechnya burning homes of insurgents

GROZNY, Russia, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Chechnya is carrying out a campaign of burning the homes of families with sons suspected of joining anti-government insurgents, human rights advocates say.

Paramilitaries loyal to the pro-Russian government of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov are intensifying a campaign to wipe out the remnants of the 15-year-old insurgency. As part of that effort, local human rights campaigners say at least a dozen homes have been burned since midsummer, The New York Times reported Monday.

The home burnings have been accompanied by forced television appearances by frightened parents urging their insurgent sons to return home, the newspaper said.

Witnesses say that in the attacks, residents are awakened by men in uniforms and black ski masks who herd victims outside and torch the homes. They add that many of the attacks include stern declarations that the homes were being destroyed as punishment, the Times said.