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| Caucasus |
| Caucasus Corpse Count |
| 2004-08-03 |
| The latest series of rebel raids in Chechnya killed seven Russian soldiers over the past day, an official with the region's Kremlin-backed administration said Monday. Five of the servicemen were killed and seven others wounded in 19 rebel attacks on Russian bases and checkpoints in the region over the previous 24 hours, the official said on condition of anonymity. Two other soldiers died and two were wounded in a clash with rebels near the southern village of Roshni-Chu late Sunday, the official said. One rebel was killed and another was wounded in the skirmish, he added. Also Sunday, five servicemen were wounded when a Russian military truck hit a rebel land mine near the village of Oktyabrskoye just west of the Chechen capital, Grozny. In Grozny itself, two officers of the local police force were wounded when a man whom they stopped for an identity check opened fire on them Sunday. The gunman was killed. Another Chechen policeman was wounded Sunday when a police patrol came under rebel fire near the village of Gerzel in the eastern Gudermes region. Fighting is continuing unabated in Chechnya in the run-up to an Aug. 29 election to replace Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed Chechen president who was killed by a bomb in May. Sergei Fridinsky, Russia's deputy prosecutor general, said Monday that the authorities had arrested the third suspect involved in the bombings, the Interfax news agency reported. Two suspects arrested earlier have remained in custody pending trial. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |