Casualties of Russian Soldiers in Chechen Blasts Over 100

The latest report shows that the casualties of the Russian joint troops in Chechnya in a series of terrorist blasts made by Chechen rebels Sunday night have reached over 100, said the Russian Interior Ministry on Monday.

Up till now, 38 soldiers were killed, 76 wounded and 25 missing in the blasts, the Itar-Tass quoted the ministry's interior agency in the troubled republic as saying.

At least 31 people died in a military hostel explosion in the city of Argun overnight. Rescuers have recovered 26 bodies of the Russian special policemen (OMON units) from the rubble of the police dormitory Monday afternoon, said the agency.

The blast in Argun also killed three civilians who were staying near the building. Now ruins-clearing work is still underway and more corpses will be found, it said.

Chechen rebels have staged a fresh wave of terrorists acts since Russian troops launched a large-scale mopping-up campaign against the militants in late June, especially after federal units annihilated a 200-250 strong gang of Arab mercenaries near central Chechen village of Serzhen-Yurt last week.

Russian presidential aide on Chechnya Sergei Yastrzhembsky told journalists Monday that separatists had become more active in the turbulent republic and the number of terrorist acts had considerably risen.

He noted that 100-more militants had been recently killed in a five-day battle near Serzhen-Yurt, where the rebels had been rallying to deal strikes at Argun and the second largest Chechen city of Gudermes.

The terrorists aim to make strikes at important populated localities in Chechnya in a bid to show their combat potential, and they also planned to kill some prominent representatives of the federal authorities and military command, said the Kremlin senior official.

He believes that the terrorist acts are also designed to intimidate the Chechen population and to challenge the newly appointed head of interim federal administration in Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov.

Moscow says it has eliminated most rebels in Chechnya after a nine-month bloody war and now it is fighting remnant terrorists, responsible for a series of bomb blasts in the capital and other Russian cities among other acts of violence.

The rebels have vowed to fight a guerrilla-style war against the Russians and have launched an increasing number of hit-and-run attacks -- a tactic which helped drive Russian troops from the province in the 1994-1996 Chechen war.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have suffered increasing losses from rebel ambushes and booby traps planted on highways.

Russian official figures put total federal losses at more than 2,300 since troops repelled an incursion by Chechen rebels into the neighboring republic of Dagestan last August, ahead of the full-scale military campaign.

In early June, Kremlin said that despite decades of thousands of rebels were wiped out, there were still 2,000-2,500 remnants staying in Chechnya and engaged in guerrilla warfare, ambushes and terrorist acts.



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