Russian soldiers returning from  Chechnya where atrocities against civilians are reportedly beyond belief (File photo)

By Damir Ahmad, IOL Correspondent

MOSCOW, September 21 (IslamOnline.net) – Eight Russian Muslim soldiers escaped their special forces unit base, south of the Russian capital Moscow after being badly harassed and mistreated by their colleagues.

Russian NTV network said Tuesday, September 21, the eight soldiers left their military unit Monday and resorted to their relatives who returned them back to the Russian base, fearing severe military punishment against them.

The soldiers said they left the Russian base after being beaten by their colleagues, just because they are Muslims, demonstrating the upsurge of hatred and anger against Russian Muslims, especially after the Beslan school hostage-taking tragedy.

Russian military police, for its part, said the case of the eight soldiers would be investigated to know the reasons behind their escape from the military base.

More than 322 people, including 155 children, were killed and at least 700 others were injured in Beslan when Russian special forces stormed a school in northern Ossetia to release 1,000 children and parents taken hostage by militants in northern Ossetia.

The attack was reportedly claimed by Chechen commander Shamil Basayev though veteran leader Aslan Maskhdov had condemned the attack and vigorously distanced himself from it.

Up to 40,000 Russian Muslims took to the streets to protest at the hostage-taking school tragedy in the southern city of Beslan.

Rising Attacks

Deputy head of the Council of Muftis of Russia Damir Gizalullin Hazret paid a visit to the Russian military base to meet with the eight soldiers, a council source told IslamOnline.net Tuesday.

During the meeting, the deputy chairman urged the Muslim soldiers to shoulder  responsibility in guarding the homeland and to endure all problems they encounter, the source added.

The Russian Muslims have been under increasingly racist and violent attacks that take different forms from raping and body assaults to attacks on mosques, especially in the wake of the bloody end to the Beslan school crisis.

On September 16, a Muslim woman was found in a remote area in the eastern city of Asbest raped and tortured to death.

The 45-year-old mother of three was hit on the head by an iron device by unknown attackers, who wrote "Death to terrorists" on the back of her naked body.

In the northern Russian city of Noyaborsk, six Russian young men attacked a mosque, smashing its windows and staining its walls with racist remarks.

Also, a mosque imam in the Russian city of Sterlitamak in Bashkiria Republic was attacked by unknown Russian persons. The imam is now in a critical condition due to severe head injuries.

Russia has a Muslim population of 20 million people concentrated in north of the Caucasus and in the central parts of the country.