Russian General: Chechen Gunmen to Be Destroyed Shortly

A senior Russian commander said Sunday that only 1 percent of Chechen territory are still controlled by the rebels who will be destroyed in the near future.

The federal troops are regrouping to give "the last and decisive battle to gunmen and to destroy the last bandit hiding in the mountains" of the breakaway republic, said Gennady Troshev, deputy commander of the United Army Group in the North Caucasus.

However, he said the federal forces were facing major obstacles in fighting the rebels as the Argun gorge, where most militants were concentrated, is a fortified area.

Some 2,000 militants, together with their ringleaders, were surrounded in several towns and villages near the Argun gorge. Despite the fortified defense, moral was low among the rebels, Troshev said.

Because of the proximity between the federal troops and the rebels, air strikes will be suspended shortly to avoid harming friendly forces, while trench mortar, machine guns and rockets will be used instead, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

In Argun, Commander Vladimir Bulgakov of the Northern Army Group in the North Caucasus also confirmed plans to seize the gorge in the near future.

"The task of federal troops is to wipe out all bandits in the mountains, and this task will be settled in the near future," Tass quoted Bulgakov as saying.

Anticipating fierce resistance by the rebels, Bulgakov warned his troops of "fierce battles in store."

Russia launched the military campaign against the Chechen rebels last September shortly after two waves of armed Chechen incursions into neighboring Dagestan and a spate of terrorist bombings, also blamed on the Chechen militants, which killed some 300 people in Moscow and two other cities in Russia.

Russian authorities said some 1,500 federal troops have died in the military campaign against the rebels, which is said to be popular among the Russians.

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