Seven Russian soldiers were killed Saturday in a gun battle after separatist guerrillas used explosives to halt a train carrying Russian armored vehicles, a top rebel spokesman claimed.
The Russian military, however, denied any fatal casualties.
A spokesman for army command said cited by Russian agencies that a "small" explosive device had exploded as the train passed, lightly injuring a number of soldiers and damaging a carriage.
The train was bound for the city of Argun, some 10 kilometers (six miles) east of the capital Grozny, when it hit an explosive device planted by the rebels, Chechen spokesman Movladi Udugov told AFP by telephone.
Udugov claimed that seven soldiers were killed in the ensuing gun battle, and ten armored vehicles have been destroyed or overturned.
No independent confirmation of the incident was immediately available.
Both the Russians and Chechens have frequently exaggerated the other side's losses in the course of the 13-month war, and their claims are nearly impossible to independently confirm -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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