World IN BRIEF : RUSSIA : Army Attacks 3 Chechen Strongholds

Russian forces attacked Chechen separatists on three fronts, trying to seize control of more territory in the breakaway republic before President Boris N. Yeltsin unveils a peace plan. A Defense Ministry spokesman in Moscow said planes and artillery were used in the assaults in southern, southwestern and southeastern Chechnya. “In the last 24 hours, Russian aviation and artillery have continued delivering strikes against rebel positions in the vicinity of Bamut, Stary Achkhoi and Orekhovo,” he said. Bamut, in the southwest, houses a former Soviet nuclear missile base and is seen as one of the rebels’ most important strongholds.