Russian losses in Chechnya grow

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, APRIL 1. The Russian military has admitted losing 32 men in Chechnya in a major rebel counter-attack last week.

The Interfax news agency on Saturday quoted a top Russian commander in Chechnya as saying the bodies of 32 soldiers had been discovered overnight in a gorge near the village of Zhani- Vedeno, south of the capital Grozny, where a Russian convoy had been ambushed on Wednesday. The rebels hit the first and the last vehicle of the convoy and sprayed the Russian soldiers with machinegun fire. The toll may rise further as of 49 men who travelled in the convoy only seven soldiers escaped. A further 20 troops were wounded when another convoy was sent to rescue it.

In another development, Interfax reported that the body of a man thought to be the kidnapped Russian general, Gennady Shpigun, had been found in Chechnya. Lt. Gen. Shpigun, Moscow's representative in Chechnya, was abducted in March last year from Grozny airport. Reports said he had escaped from the rebels holding him, but had lost his way in a forest and died of hypothermia.

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Section  : International
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