Russian troops killed in Chechen cafe bomb

MOSCOW, Russia -- At least seven Russian soldiers have been killed in a bomb blast in a Chechen cafe.

Chechen rebels are believed to be behind the blast in Chiri-Yurt, which is about 30km (18 miles) south of the Chechen capital Grozny.

Security sources told the Interfax News Agency that as well as the soldiers, the cafe's female owner had also died.

Four other people were injured.

The news agency said windows were shattered in surrounding buildings.

Chechen rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov, speaking by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location, said 14 members of the crack OMON police had died in the blast, eight of them officers.

Two women working in the cafe had also died.

"A Chechen diversionary group caused the blast with 10 kg (22 pounds) of explosive placed inside the cafe and at the exit," he said.

Udugov said Russian troops had sealed off the village, a strategic centre leading to the Argun gorge, and helicopters were patrolling overhead.

He said according to Russian communications intercepted by the rebels, soldiers were unable to find the bodies of five of the dead in the rubble.

Udugov also reported clashes between Russian troops and insurgents in two districts south of Grozny.

In one battle at Zhani-Vedeno, in the Vedeno gorge southeast of Grozny, he said at least 10 Russian soldiers had died, with rebel losses standing at one dead and six injured.

There was no one available for comment at the office of the Kremlin's Chechnya representative Sergei Yastrzhembsky.

Russia has lost more than 2,500 troops since pushing into the region a year ago to crush separatists.

It took control of Grozny, now largely reduced to ruins, in February and formally controls most of Chechen territory.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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