Russia Loses Jet in Chechnya, Claims Forces Killed 20 Rebels
Russian forces claimed Monday to have killed 20 Chechen guerrillas but lost a reconnaissance jet, possibly to rebel fire.
The insurgents were killed in artillery and airstrikes, the military claimed. Russian forces are trying to rout Chechen rebels from mountain strongholds, but sniping and hit-and-run attacks continue.
A Russian Su-24MR plane disappeared from radar screens during bad weather Sunday over Chechnya, and military officials said it may have been shot down.
A rebel Web site claimed the plane had been downed over Vedeno in the southern mountains by a shoulder-fired Igla antiaircraft missile. “Chechen fighters are searching for the pilot-terrorist,” the site said.
The site carried a picture of bearded men in olive-drab T-shirts holding up a section of airplane wing and said the plane had been bombing the villages of Zhanni-Vedeno and Belgatoi. Neither the picture’s authenticity nor the rebel claims could be verified.
Russian officials did not say where the plane went down, saying that could endanger the pilot if he survived.
In other incidents in the region Sunday, rebels attacked an Emergencies Ministry convoy, planted bombs under railway tracks and shot at military checkpoints.
A woman and a child were killed and several others wounded in air raids near Verkhneye Vedeno, an official said.
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