Citing the 2002 law on terrorism, police in Nalchik continue to refuse to give relatives the bodies of many young men killed in the 13 October raid on Nalchik, claiming the men in question were active participants, not innocent victims. While radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev said on 17 October that 42 of the 217 participants are dead or missing. Interfax the same day said some 50 bodies of \"militants\" remain unidentified. Some 30 women gathered on 17 October outside the government building in Nalchik but were prevented from approaching the president\'s office. Relatives quoted by newsru.com said that the authorities placed guns and grenades next to the bodies of young men who were not practicing Muslims but who were caught in the cross-fire and photographed them as \"evidence\" that the dead men were militants. The same agency claimed that an unspecified number of the alleged dead militants were shot in the back of the head. \"Moscow News\" on 18 October quoted Kabardino-Balkaria President Arsen Kanokov as suggesting that the bodies of \"people who were used as cannon fodder\" should be handed over to their relatives as \"an act of humanity, so that cruelty does not engender further cruelty.\" (RFE/RL)