11 Russian Troops Killed by Land Mine in Chechnya

A radio-controlled land mine exploded Tuesday under a truck carrying Chechen conscripts for the Russian army in southern Chechnya, killing at least 11 soldiers and injuring 30, seven of them seriously.

Rudnik Dudayev, secretary of Chechnya’s Russian-appointed security council in the Shatoi region, said rebels fighting for independence for the republic were responsible for the attack, according to the Interfax news agency.

The attack came as the Russian army strengthened security around the Chechen capital, Grozny, to block feared rebel attacks to mark the sixth anniversary of their storming of the city.

Chechnya’s second-largest city, Gudermes, about 20 miles east of Grozny, was closed except to cars having special military permits.

At least 80 people had been picked up by Russian security forces on suspicion of having rebel links since Monday, said a Chechen civilian official who refused to allow use of his name.

The rebel attack on Grozny on Aug. 6, 1996, caught Russian troops by surprise. It led to a Russian retreat after a 20-month war, which left Chechnya with de facto independence. Three years later, Russian troops returned to Chechnya after rebel incursions into a neighboring republic and apartment bombings blamed on the rebels in which 300 people were killed.