| Ten Russian servicemen were killed in rebel Chechnya over the past day and four civilians died when a Russian artillery shell hit their house, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said on Sunday. Four of the soldiers died as Russian military outposts came under rebel fire, the official said on condition of anonymity. Six others died in two incidents of military vehicles detonating mines -- one on the outskirts of the capital Grozny and the other near the town of Kurchaloi. The four civilians who died were in a house in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, the official said. It was not immediately clear if the house had been specifically targeted. Russian forces launch artillery and air strikes almost daily in an attempt to uproot rebels. Artillery assaults targeted suspected insurgent bases in a four areas of the republic, the Chechen official said. |