Russia loses 14 in Chechnya

Russia's military action in Chechnya has faced criticism from home and abroard

NAZRAN, Russia -- Fourteen Russian servicemen have been killed in Chechnya in the past 24 hours, officials told the Associated Press.

The commander and deputy of a special task force of police sent to Chechnya from the city of Krasnoyarsk were killed when their truck ran over a radio-detonated land mine in the capital Grozny, an aide to Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembski said.

Seven Russian servicemen were killed and eight wounded in 13 separate rebel attacks on Russian positions and checkpoints since Friday, a spokesman for the pro-Moscow Chechen administration said.

It is Moscow's second campaign against Chechen separatists -- the first ended in 1996 with Russian troops being forced to retreat.

The Russian military launched its second operation in 1999 after rebel incursions into the neighbouring republic of Dagestan and a series of apartment bombings in Moscow that was blamed on the rebels.

Two Russian sappers were also killed on Friday when they tried to defuse a mine in the village of Prigorodnoye on the outskirts of Grozny, the official said.

One Russian soldier was killed and two wounded when their truck struck a land mine outside the town of Vedeno in southern Chechnya.

Another soldier died when a bomb exploded in the building of the Vedeno district administration, the official said.

Rebel foray

One Russian serviceman was killed and several were wounded in a rebel attack on a military checkpoint on Friday night near the village of Assinovskaya, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Grozny, the Interfax news agency reported.

Chechen rebels attacked with checkpoint using firearms and grenade launchers, according to Vasily Panchenkov, the head of the Russian Interior troops press service.

"The servicemen opened fire as well, and artillery shelled the rebels' source of fire," he told AP. "The clash lasted for 30 minutes. The attackers suffered losses and scattered."

Russian aviation continued bombing suspected rebel bases in Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt on the eastern border, the Chechen official said, while Russian artillery shelled targets in Urus-Martan southwest of Grozny and Itum-Kale near the border with Georgia.

In a series of special operations in Chechnya on Friday, units of the Russian Interior Ministry detained 41 suspected rebels, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

After withdrawing from Chechnya following a 1994-96 war, Russia's army returned to the province in 1999. Moscow cited a rebel foray into a neighbouring region and four apartment bombings blamed on the rebels that killed about 300 people as justification for the current war.

There has been strong international criticism of Russia's military action and accusations of human rights abuses carried out by soldiers.

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