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| Caucasus |
| Caucasus Corpse Count |
| 2004-08-24 |
| Russian artillery strikes killed 12 rebels Tuesday outside Chechnya's capital Grozny, the Interfax news agency said, citing a military spokesman. The bodies of five rebels were found about 6 miles south of Grozny after the area was shelled by Russian forces, and that seven others were found in a separate spot, Maj. Gen. Ilya Shabalkin told the news agency. Shabalkin said the rebels were believed to have been part of a group that came under attack Saturday night, amid heavy fighting in Grozny. Accounts of the weekend's casualties have varied but an official in Chechnya's Moscow-backed government said that more than 30 people were killed, including at least 23 Chechen police or Russian servicemen and some civilians in attacks on police stations and patrols. Another official told The Associated Press that at least 41 people died -- not including rebels. Russian media, without citing sources, have put the toll even higher. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Chechnya on Sunday, a week before presidential elections in the rebel region to elect a successor to Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in May. A Kremlin spokesman said Putin made a lightning visit to Kadyrov's grave in his ancestral village on what would have been the 53rd birthday of the regional leader who was at the vanguard of Moscow's drive to crush a decade-long separatist war. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |