Sergei Fridinskii [ru] had reported that on 15 September 2002 200 militants crossed the Russian-Georgian border.
It's also possible that so called "anti-criminal" operations made by the Ministry of Defense of Georgia also gave a reason for the Chechen militants to withdraw from Pankisi Gorge.
[2] At night of 26 September 2002, around 100 to 300[a] Chechen militants under command of Ruslan Gelayev or Abdul-Malik Mezhidov[b] entered into battle with Russian troops near the Ingush village of Galashki after part of the Chechen militants under command of Abdul Malik was accidentally noticed by the 58th Combined Arms Army of Russian federal forces.
The artillery fire pushed the remaining militants into an abandoned livestock farm, located about two kilometers from Galashki.
[6] The militants shot down one Mi-24 helicopter from the Igla MANPADS, knocking out two from grenade launchers armored personnel carrier and killing 12 soldiers and officers of the federal troops.