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Caucasus Corpse Count
Five Russian servicemen were killed when rebels ambushed a convoy outside Chechnyaâs capital Grozny in one of several outbursts of deadly fighting in the region over the previous 24 hours, an official said today. Nine other servicemen were wounded in the attack in the village of Prigorodnoye, the official in Chechnyaâs Moscow-backed government said on condition of anonymity. The troops were from the Interior Ministry and were killed when their armored personnel carrier exploded, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing Interior Ministry spokesman Vasily Panchenko. Separately, five Russian servicemen were killed and nine wounded in rebel attacks on Russian positions over the past day, the government official said. He said Russian outposts came under fire 18 times. Five Chechen police officers employed by the Moscow-backed government were killed and four wounded in a clash in the Vedeno district in southern Chechnya that also killed two rebels, the official said, and one police officer died and three were wounded in another clash in the same district.Eight rebel fighters were killed in skirmishes in the mountains of southern Chechnya on Wednesday, Col. Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman for the regional federal headquarters, told Interfax on Wednesday evening. In another skirmish, Russian troops spotted 7 rebels seven kilometers from the village of Dargo. "Two of them were killed in an exchange of fire. The evidence found at the scene suggests that the gang had been under the command of the terrorist Rappani Khalilov," Shabalkin said. A Russian government building in Chechnya was attacked Thursday morning, injuring two female workers, Russian news agencies reported. Itar-Tass said unidentified attackers fired grenade-launchers on the State Council building in the republicâs capital of Grozny. Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-05-28 |
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