| Russian troops killed 19 separatists in a major operation in the southeast of Chechnya, Interfax news agency quoted a chief military spokesman in the troubled region as saying. Thirteen rebels died in a shootout in Nozhai-Yurt district some 50 km southeast of the regional capital Grozny today, the spokesman, Ilya Shabalkin, told the agency. Six rebels were killed in the same area yesterday in a Russian commando raid on guerrilla hideouts, he said. Small units of specially trained commandos have become one of the most effective instruments in Russia's war against separatist insurgency in Chechnya. |