Russia Disputes Rebel Attack Death Toll

Russian officials confirmed Sunday that Chechen rebels had attacked troops outside the regional capital Grozny, but said the death toll was three fighters and not the 16 reported by the guerrillas.

Just hours after the confirmation, rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov said the troops were victims of another surprise attack near the devastated capital, where fighters had killed more than 40 troops with mortars, machine guns and grenades.

The defense ministry was not available for comment, and each side regularly exaggerates the other’s losses.

Russia has seized most of Chechnya in an eight-month campaign but has not been able to control the rugged southern mountains and prevent ambushes in many places, including Grozny.

The head of the press service at the base of Khankala outside Grozny, Gennady Alyokhin, told state-owned RTR television that a truck with OMON paramilitary police and Interior Ministry troops was attacked Saturday.

“There was a sudden burst of fire. Unfortunately there are dead and wounded,” he said. “Two died on the spot and one died later in hospital.”

Itar-Tass news agency said two of the dead belonged to the OMON paramilitary police while one army soldier was also killed.

Udugov had said Saturday that the rebels hit a checkpoint in the Zavodskoi district on the edge of Grozny on Saturday evening during a change of shift. He said 16 had been killed in the clash, which lasted about 30 minutes.

The military said the rebels had taken away the bodies of slain rebels, but Udugov said none of the separatists had died.

On Sunday, Udugov said the rebels killed more than 40 people near the village of Aldi on the edge of the capital. He said the rebels suffered no losses and only one fighter had been lightly wounded in the ambush on a commandant’s base.

“They were taken by surprise and they didn’t or rather couldn’t react to the attack,” Udugov said by telephone, adding that two Chechen divisions had been deployed and the fighting had lasted for more than an hour.

“The Russian troops are now shooting at civilian targets in the area” of the ambush.

Several ambushes have taken a high toll of Russia’s troops, one of the bloodiest being on an OMON column in early March, when 20 servicemen were killed in another part of Grozny.

Although Russia’s losses continue to mount, standing at more than 2,300 killed, there seems little chance of peace talks between Moscow and the separatists.

Russian officials have so far dismissed the idea of peace talks, saying Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov cannot be trusted to guarantee that any peace deal would be respected because he was not in control of all the rebels.

On Saturday President Vladimir Putin described the campaign against the rebels as a fight against banditry and said the government did not aim to punish the Chechen people themselves.