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Caucasus Corpse Count
NINE soldiers and police died in the latest rebel raids and mine explosions in Chechnya as President Vladimir Putin won a second four-year term in a landslide, an official with the Moscow-backed Chechen administration said today. In the latest fighting in Chechnya, two soldiers were killed and another 10 wounded in 18 rebel attacks on military checkpoints throughout the tiny, mountainous province in the past 24 hours, a Chechen official said on condition of anonymity. Another four troops died and 12 were wounded yesterday when their truck hit a rebel land mine near the southern village of Alleroi, and two sappers were killed in Grozny when they tried to defuse another mine, the official said.In Gudermes, the second-largest Chechen city east of Grozny, a pro-Moscow local police officer was shot dead by unidentified assailants late yesterday. Russian forces retaliated with customary artillery barrages of suspected rebel hideouts in the southern mountains. They also have detained at least 180 local residents on suspicion of rebel links in the latest security sweeps throughout Chechnya, the official said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-03-16 |
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