Seven dead in Chechen violence

Russian troops on patrol in Grozny

GROZNY, Russia -- Two Chechen policemen have been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the central market of the capital Grozny, witnesses and police said.

The shootings happened on Sunday during a weekend of violence in which five Russian troops were also killed and dozens wounded.

The two police officers worked for the organised crime prevention department of the Chechen special police, according to relatives who witnessed the shooting.

Several suspects were detained after the shooting, Musa Gazimagomadov, commander of the Chechen special police told the Interfax news agency.

Among the wounded is a pregnant medical student who lost her unborn baby and both legs when she was caught in a bomb blast near a Russian checkpoint.

The military casualties came on Friday and Saturday.

Two soldiers were killed and 19 were wounded when rebels launched repeated attacks on Russian positions and checkpoints.

Most of the attacks were in the capital Grozny, the official in the pro-Moscow administration told the Associated Press.

Two other Russian soldiers were killed and two were wounded on Friday when their armored personnel carrier detonated a land mine, the official said.

Near the village of Starye Atagi, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Grozny, a Russian sapper was killed and another was wounded as they attempted to defuse a land mine.

Ramisa Shektiova, a medical student, was also wounded on Friday in an explosion near a Russian checkpoint in Grozny.

Doctors said the baby 24-year-old Ramisa Shektiova was carrying died in the womb after the explosion, the Interfax news agency said.

Shekitova lost both legs in the blast and remained in extremely critical condition at the Grozny hospital, the report said.

Although wide-scale fighting in Chechnya died down more than a year ago, the rebels continue to bloody Russian troops with small attacks, booby-traps and land mines.

Russia's interior ministry announced on Saturday that 62 of its military policemen serving in Chechnya have been killed since the beginning of this year, while another 253 had been wounded, Interfax reported.

Russian forces withdrew from Chechnya in 1996 after rebels fought them to a standstill in a 20-month war, but returned in the autumn of 1999 following incursions by Chechnya-based rebels into neighboring Dagestan and the deaths of some 300 people in apartment bombings blamed on Chechen insurgents.

Last week, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said 2,682 Russian soldiers in the various military branches had been killed since Chechen rebels staged their incursions in Dagestan.