Chechen Officials Say Civilians in South Trapped by Shelling

Russian military advances into rebel-held southern Chechnya are trapping civilians in cellars and sending others fleeing through snowy mountain passes and forests littered with corpses, Chechen officials said Sunday.

After days of heavy fighting, the Russian military claimed to have made inroads into Chechnya’s southern mountains, capturing strategic heights overlooking Vedeno, a major rebel stronghold. Russian forces can now position artillery on the heights, making it easier to drive the rebels out of the town.

But the constant air and artillery attacks that precede the advance of Russian troops have left civilians trapped in southern mountain villages, afraid to venture out under the bombs and shells raining on the roads, Chechen officials and civilians said.

Residents of Grozny, the capital, who had fled the city in hopes of escaping to Georgia, which borders Chechnya to the south, have been stuck in villages south of Grozny.

“People cannot venture out of their homes because the shelling continues around the clock,” said Ramzan Bisiyev, head of the village administration in Rodina, just outside Grozny.

Bisiyev said he was trying to negotiate with Russian authorities for a safe corridor so civilians could leave southern Chechnya for Russian-controlled areas in the north.

“In despair, people go through the forests, along mountain passes, and come under artillery fire. A lot of dead bodies lie around those forests,” said Bisiyev, who visited southern Chechnya last week.

Having swept across the plains in Chechnya’s north, Russian forces have been trying to crush rebel fighters concentrated in the mountainous south.

After taking the heights near Vedeno, Russian forces seized a large cache of arms, including grenade launchers, two antiaircraft rocket launchers and several flamethrowers, said Maj. Alexander Diordiev, a military spokesman.

Russian forces also kept up air and artillery bombardments of Grozny as a major offensive to take the city entered a second week.

Russian commanders claimed their ground forces were making progress in Grozny, but the federal forces still appeared to be far from taking the city center.