7 Russians Killed in Fighting Near Chechnya

Russian helicopter gunships and artillery opened fire Friday on Chechen positions in southern Russia, officials said, in retaliation for guerrilla attacks on Russian outposts that left seven servicemen dead and 15 wounded.

The fighting appeared to be the worst in months around the breakaway Chechnya province and comes at a time when Moscow and the Chechen government are trying to improve relations.

Russian officials said the fighting began when Chechen fighters attacked three Russian border posts in the Dagestan region with mortar and machine-gun fire. Three Interior Ministry soldiers were killed and 15 wounded in the sector, officials said.

Regional commander Lt. Gen. Ivan Klimenkov said the retaliatory attack was launched not against Chechnya but against the fighters’ positions in Dagestan.

“Gangs first crossed the administrative border of Chechnya and opened fire with grenade launchers and automatic rifles from Dagestani territory in the immediate vicinity of Russian checkpoints,” Klimenkov told the Interfax news agency.

“Fire from the helicopters was conducted only at the firing positions of the gangsters on Dagestani territory,” he said.

Helicopter gunships attacked the Chechen positions after dawn, firing salvos of rockets. They attacked a column of 15 Chechen trucks, destroying at least one vehicle, officials said.

In a separate confrontation, four members of a border police unit were killed overnight when their patrol was attacked in the Stavropol region, officials said. A fifth member of the patrol was abducted.

There was no word on possible Chechen casualties.

As a result of the latest fighting, 50 of the 60 Russian checkpoints on the Chechen border will be closed, Klimenkov said. The remainder will be turned into fortified police stations.

Russia often temporarily closes checkpoints on the Chechen border during times of violence.

Chechen separatist fighters drove Russian troops from the territory in a 1994-96 war. Moscow, however, insists that the territory remains part of Russia.

Russian and Chechen officials have been negotiating a possible meeting this summer between Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov about stabilizing relations.