| Federal troops have destroyed 12 rebels, including one foreign mercenary, in the south of Chechnya, army spokesman Colonel Ilya Shabalkin told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. He said units of the Russian Defence Ministry had killed the gunmen during reconnaissance and ambush operations in the Vedeno, Sharoi, Shatoi and Itum-Kale districts. According to the staff of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, federal forces have destroyed 17 rebel bases, 18 observation points and eight caches containing arms and medicines. |