| SIX Russian soldiers have been killed in rebel attacks in Chechnya in the past 24 hours, an official in the Moscow-backed Chechen administration said today. All the deaths came in rebels firing on Russian military positions, the official said. In all, Russian outposts were fired on in 16 incidents, he said. Two rebels were killed in a clash with bodyguards of Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov yesterday, the official said, adding four of the bodyguards were wounded. In Grozny, the Chechen capital, a rebel was killed in a shootout with police, said the official. Russian forces used heavy artillery to pound suspected rebel positions throughout mountainous southern Chechnya, and troops rounded up 120 people on suspicion of aiding rebels, the Chechen official said. |