02:23, 19 April 2005

New fruit of crackdown efforts

A rebel base was destroyed in a special operation in Chechnya's Vedeno district and seven people were killed, according to provisional information. This is what Novosti news agency was told by the Regional Operations Headquarters for the Counter-terrorist Operation in the North Caucasus (ROH). Some rebels, several wounded among them, were able to escape.

The base was located in a quite out-of-the-way place and had medicines and medical equipment. There were alarm systems and mined approaches, which the ROH says may indicate the most odious Chechen field commanders were stationed there. The agency's interlocutor said though identification of the destroyed rebels appeared to be impossible in because of their sweeping destruction by shelling.

In turn, the Chechen separatist website Kavkaz Center says four Russian officers were killed and 13 wounded in various combats last weekend.

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