In Surprise Move, Rebels Invade Chechnya’s 2nd-Biggest Town

Russian troops strove to regain full control of Chechnya’s second-biggest town today after separatist rebels overran it in their biggest assault in months.

Large chunks of Gudermes fell into guerrilla hands Monday when up to 300 rebels invaded the hometown of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administrator, Akhmad Kadyrov. It was not clear if Kadyrov was in Gudermes at the time of the attack.

Officials said that late Monday the town center was already back in Russian hands, but a rebel Web site reported heavy bombardment of Gudermes, where about 40,000 people live. It said guerrillas remained largely in control.

Monday’s assault on Gudermes, coupled with a string of smaller attacks across Chechnya, was the biggest setback in months for Moscow, which is trying to portray life in the separatist republic as steadily returning to normal.

Officials said that at least 10 crack Russian police officers were killed in the Gudermes fighting Monday. In addition, two generals and eight colonels, all from the general staff, died when rebels shot down their helicopter over the republic’s capital, Grozny.

Russian news agencies quoted Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov as telling Russian reporters in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, that the guerrillas in Gudermes were trapped and that tanks, troops and artillery had been rushed to destroy them.

But flushing the rebels out of Gudermes would be a tricky task that might involve devastating a town seen as a relatively peaceful place after the local Chechen clans surrendered it to Moscow without a fight in 1999.

Russia also picked its local head, Kadyrov, from Gudermes as an apparent reward for support of its campaign, launched almost two years ago, to bring Chechnya back into Moscow’s fold.

Previously, troops have rarely balked at using all their firepower against towns and villages when faced with large rebel forces entrenched inside. Bombing and shelling have reduced to rubble most of Grozny, once a leafy city of nearly 400,000.

Russia has established shaky control over Chechnya, but troops and police suffer almost daily losses from guerrilla attacks. Moscow has ruled out negotiating any political compromise with the rebels.

The chief Kremlin Chechnya spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told NTV television that the rebels had struck at Gudermes to shatter its image of a quiet haven spared the war’s devastation. He said the guerrillas were already withdrawing.