| FIGHTING persisted in Chechnya today, with an official in the Moscow-backed government saying eight Russian servicemen and at least two rebels were killed over the previous 24 hours. Four of the servicemen were killed and five were wounded in rebel attacks on Russian positions. There were 16 attacks in the past day. An attack on a military convoy in southern Chechnya’s Shali district killed two of the servicemen, while a clash in another southern area left one serviceman and two rebels dead. One Russian paratrooper was killed and four wounded when their armoured vehicle hit a mine. Russian forces targeted suspected rebel positions in several regions with artillery, as they do almost every day, and at least 120 people suspected by Russian authorities or the Chechen government of rebel activity were detained. |