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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Caucasus Corpse Count |
| 2005-04-17 |
| A fierce gunbattle in the shattered Chechen capital Grozny killed at least eight combatants Friday, officials said, as fighting erupted in other parts of Chechnya and a bomb rocked the capital of neighboring Dagestan. Five soldiers and three Chechen rebels died in the clash in northern Grozny, officials in the Moscow-backed local administration told reporters. Another two Russian servicemen were wounded, said the officials, who asked not to be named. Russian television showed footage of soldiers, backed by armored infantry vehicles, firing at a nine-storey apartment block in the bombed-out residential neighborhood. Interfax news agency said seven Chechen rebels died in the clash, while the dead Russian soldiers were reportedly from the elite Federal Security Service (FSB). Friday's battle was reported to have started when security forces discovered the guerrilla cell, which in turn refused to surrender. NTV television said many residents from besieged buildings had evacuated in time, but that others were trapped and had been calling from mobile phones for help. In other unrest, Russian forces said they had killed a group of Chechens armed with portable anti-aircraft rockets near the sprawling Russian base of Khankala, just outside Grozny. There were no further details, but television footage showed the body of one person in camouflage next to what officials said were captured weapons, including two surface-to-air rockets. Two other federal troops died and seven were wounded in fighting elsewhere in Chechnya over the last 24 hours, a Chechen administration source told reporters. Russian forces used artillery in the sparsely inhabited Caucasus mountains, the main stronghold of the rebels. Meanwhile, in Makhachkala, capital of the troubled neighboring region of Dagestan, two explosions largely destroyed a local prosecutor's office, injuring six people, Interfax quoted local police as saying. The blasts occurred within seconds of each other, setting the one-story building on fire, Russian television footage showed. The building housed the offices of the prosecutor for one of the districts in Makhachkala, Interfax said, quoting an unnamed district interior ministry spokesman. Two of the injured were identified as deputy district prosecutors. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |