Thirty-five Russian soldiers were killed Saturday when a troop column in the east of Chechnya was ambushed by separatist guerrillas, a top rebel spokesman told AFP.
The Russian column consisting of between 100 and 120 soldiers, was "surrounded and destroyed" by the rebels early Saturday near the village of Nizhny Kurchali, 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of the breakaway republic's nominal capital Grozny, the spokesman Movladi Udugov said.
A four-hour gun battle left 35 Russian soldiers dead, and another 50 wounded, while one Chechen fighter was killed and three others wounded, he added.
However, the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, denied that any federal troops had been killed in clashes with the rebels Saturday.
A special operation to "neutralise" guerrilla forces led by top rebel commander Shamil Basayev and Khattab was under way in eastern Chechnya, Yastrzhembsky's office confirmed, but there were no reports of serious Russian casualties.
One soldier had been slightly wounded when rebels fired at a control post near Tolstoi-Yurt, a suburb of Grozny, the office reported.
It was not possible to verify the conflicting reports issued by the rival sources, whose estimates of casualties have varied extravagantly since Russia declared its self-styled "anti-terrorist" campaign against the Chechen rebels 13 months ago -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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