A pro-Russian Chechen policeman was killed and seven were wounded in a series of rebel attacks on Russian bases and outposts Sunday, the Interfax news agency reported.
However, Russian troops reported killing seven rebel fighters and capturing some 20 more in sweeps of southeastern Chechnya and the capital Grozny, a spokesman for the Russian military command said.
Rebels fired at a squad of federal troops in Alleroi in southeastern Chechnya, killing one local policeman and wounding two, the spokesman said.
Four other policemen were injured when a Russian vehicle hit a remote-controlled landmine in Chechnya's southwestern region of Urus-Martan, and one Russian soldier was wounded in a shootout in Grozny.
Meanwhile, four workers from the southern Russian city of Stavropol, capital of a region that borders Chechnya, were reported missing in the breakaway republic Monday, Stavropol security services told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
Russian soldiers and Chechen pro-Moscow personnel are frequently targeted by the rebels who have been fighting Russian government forces since Moscow sent in troops in October 1999 -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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