Chechen Rebels Kill 16 in Truck Bombing, Russia Says

Chechen rebels destroyed a Russian police hostel in a truck bomb explosion early Monday, killing at least 16 Russians and injuring 38, Russian news agencies said.

They quoted Emergencies Ministry officials as saying seven people were missing, feared buried under rubble, after the explosion near the town of Argun just outside the Chechen capital Grozny.

The agencies said police from the Urals city of Chelyabinsk were billeted in the hostel. Russian officials could not be contacted for comment.

Chechen spokesman Movladi Udugov said by telephone the bombing was one of a series of similar attacks on Russian targets in five locations in Chechnya in the last 24 hours.

Four of the attacks were successful, killing or wounding hundreds of Russians, he said.

“Unfortunately the attack carried out by a suicide bomber in the village of Kurchaloi did not work, but in Urus-Martan, Gudermes, Argun and Noiber they went all right,” Udugov said.

The Russian military said on Sunday that a truck packed with explosives blew up in Gudermes, Chechnya’s second-largest city, but there were no casualties. There have been no reports of other attacks.

The rebels staged fresh attacks after the Russian military said on Sunday that the situation in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, where battles with rebels raged for five days last week, was under control and most troops had returned to headquarters.

The military said police had increased identity checks and were monitoring the movement of vehicles around Serzhen-Yurt in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains. Interior Ministry troops were searching the woods for any remaining fighters.

Russian troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery pounded rebel positions in Chechnya’s foothills this week. The upsurge of fighting followed official statements that the nine-month war in the breakaway region was all but won.