The situation in the Chechen village of Avtury, the scene of bitter fighting earlier in the week, has returned to normal, Shali district administration chief Akhmed Gutayev told Interfax. "The gas and power supply was restored early on Thursday, stores and market places reopened, and road traffic resumed," he said.
Gas pipelines and electric substations were damaged in the fighting. One public school was burned to ashes and another needs repairs, Gutayev said. A commission is estimating the extent of the damage. Significant efforts must be made to enable children to attend classes when the school year starts on September 1, he said. Despite the fact that they outnumbered district police officers holding one of the schools, the rebels failed to take the whole building, Gutayev said. The search for rebels and their accomplices in the village has been completed, and 10 suspects have been detained. The cordon around the village has been removed, he said.
Rebel leaders plan to move a group of mercenaries hired abroad into Chechnya this summer to stage terrorist attacks against organizations issuing compensation payments to people who lost their homes in the fighting, said an official in the regional headquarters for the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. They also plan to target federal troops and officials, he said. "Rebel chiefs intend to plunge the people of Chechnya into economic collapse, instill criminal law and make most people work as slaves for todayâs rebel chiefs Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev," he said.
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Federal units "have ample information on the movements of rebels in order to thwart their criminal plans," he said. It was rebel fighters from the group led by R. Mamatsuyev that tried to kill acting Chechen President Sergei Abramov on Tuesday, an official in the Russian Interior Ministry press center in the North Caucasus told Interfax on Thursday. This group specialized in attacking police officers and Chechen government officials, the official said. Rebels avoid facing federal troops, but try to kill police officers and government officials, a press center official said. Gunmen abducted Salam Khasikhanov, deputy administration chief of the village of Gekhi in the Urus-Martan district, from Mayakovsky in Groznyâs Staropromyslovsky district, a district administration official told Interfax. 
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