Chechen Rebels Assault Russian Ministry in Capital, Killing Officer

Chechen rebels armed with automatic weapons attacked the Russian Interior Ministry building in Grozny on Saturday, setting off a two-hour firefight, officials said.

Yuri Plugin, deputy interior minister of the Moscow-backed Chechen government, told news agencies that one Russian officer was killed. There was no word of any rebel losses.

Earlier in the day, the Chechen interior minister had warned of possible attacks by rebels in Grozny, capital of the separatist region. “The situation might aggravate sharply at any moment,” Khamid Inalov told the Interfax news agency.

The Russian military command reported 12 shooting attacks on its forces since Friday, 11 of them in Grozny. Two officers of an elite Russian police unit were wounded in Gudermes, a town 19 miles east of Grozny, it said.

Also Saturday, the office of Russia’s prosecutor general said police had arrested a deputy prime minister in the Chechen government in charge of tax police, customs, licenses and auditing. Beslan Gantamirov was charged with embezzling millions of dollars Moscow had intended for rebuilding Chechnya.