| REBELS in Chechnya launched new raids against federal troops in the past day, killing six servicemen and wounding 12 others, an official in the Moscow-backed administration said today. Five of the troops died and seven were wounded in rebel attacks on Russian positions which came under fire 19 times in the previous 24 hours, the official said on condition of anonymity. Another serviceman died when rebels detonated two explosive devices late yesterday outside the main mosque in the Chechen capital, Grozny. The soldier was an ethnic Chechen who served with a federal military unit made up of local residents. Another three soldiers of the same unit were wounded by the blasts, the official said. The bullet-riddled body of a pro-Moscow Chechen police officer, who was kidnapped several days ago, was found today in the eastern city of Gudermes, according to the official. Late yesterday, Russian forces engaged a group of rebels near the southern village of Vedeno and captured one of them after a skirmish which left two federal soldiers wounded, he said. And in the province of Ingushetia west of Chechnya, a police officer suspected of involvement in last month's rebel raid detonated a hand grenade while being interrogated. The man died in the explosion which also killed two senior police officers, said Yahya Khadziyev, a spokesman for the Ingush police force. |