Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov said Wednesday that his ministry had begun investigations into a violent Russian commando attack on a regional airport in Ingushetia, a tiny ethnic republic that borders Chechnya.


The raid Tuesday was prompted by false reports that Chechen rebels had seized the airport in Sleptsovsk, just across the border from Chechnya.


According to Ingush officials, about 20 Russian paratroopers landed from two helicopters, while another five covered them from the air. The commandos opened fire during a check of passengers' documents at the airport building, killing one civilian and wounding, by various accounts, two or six.


Itar-Tass reported Kulikov's announcement that investigations had begun just hours after Ingush President Ruslan Aushev demanded a thorough investigation into the attack.


Vice President Boris Agapov of Ingushetia told Interfax he tried for three hours Tuesday to convince officials in Moscow and the Russian military in the region that "nobody was seizing the airport.''


He said the troops ordered all those in the airport building to lie down on the floor and opened fire at the ground when some hesitated. "It's most possible that bullets ricocheted and hit people,'' Agapov said.


Other reports, however, said the commandos fired indiscriminately at cars parked outside the building.


Interfax also quoted airport officials as saying 12 million rubles ($2,700) disappeared from the ticket office and a nearby cafe during the raid.


A Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed that helicopters were dispatched to Sleptsovsk on Tuesday "to clarify the situation and check the information received,'' but gave no comment on the paratroopers' actions, Interfax said.


Aushev, a retired major general who is now president of Ingushetia, appealed to the Russian parliament for an investigation of the raid, which he called illegal.


"I am well aware of the need to fight against terrorism and all other negative trends, but legitimate measures must be used for that," Aushev told the parliament's upper house, the Federation Council, according to Interfax.


Aushev said Russian military forces and intelligence services stationed on the Chechen border were "getting in each other's way and misleading the media," while Moscow was receiving biased information about Ingushetia -- populated by ethnic brethren to the Chechens.


In Chechnya, meanwhile, Russian and rebel negotiators met for an informal round of talks on the outskirts of the capital Grozny.


"We cannot speak of a full-scale resumption of official talks yet,'' said the Moscow-delegation head, Nationalities Minister Vyacheslav Mikhailov.


Peace talks between the sides broke down after a bomb blast that badly wounded the top Russian troop commander in Chechnya earlier this month and the reported Russian air raids that came in retaliation.


The military command reported 38 rebel attacks on federal troop positions Tuesday, in which two Russian servicemen were wounded.