KHANKALA, July 5 (AVN) - The Chechen extremists are trying to expand the hostilities to the territories of adjacent republics, a spokesman for the unified federal headquarters told the Military News Agency on Wednesday.
Over the past 24 hours the rebels have unleashed 23 attacks against the positions of the federal troops and police units, the spokesman said. A 40-minutes fight broke out between a 30-strong guerrilla gang and the troops at a federal outpost in the vicinity of Dugi in the Novolaksky region of Dagestan, he added.
According to the spokesman, in the course of ID-check operations, the federals have detained 57 suspected militants, extracted 17 units of firearms and 40 kilos of explosives. Pioneer detachments have exposed and rendered harmless nine explosive devices.
Search and reconnaissance groups have eliminated two arms, ammo and rations caches in highland Chechnya.