Eight Russian soldiers were killed late on Thursday when a military truck hit a mine in central Chechnya, Russian defence ministry officials said early on Friday. "A military column was leaving the town of Shali (some 25 kilometers, 15 miles southeast of Grozny) when the explosive device went off, killing eight servicemen," the ministry's press service was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
However, a source in the Northern Caucasus military headquarters told the RIA-Novosti news agency that the truck, driven by a heavy vehicle battalion's commander, was about to leave the local military base without permission when it hit the mine defence line. The driver and seven servicemen who tried to stop the car died in the blast, as "the truck broke through the gates and the officer drove out despite being forbidden to do so by servicemen at the gate, and hit a mine," the source said. Police were investigating the incident. |