KHANKALA, December 26 (AVN) - Chechen rebels are moving from the mountainous wooded country into towns, maintaining tension in Chechnya, a spokesman for the unified federal headquarters in the North Caucasus told the Military News Agency Tuesday.
Currently, there are over 1,000 guerrillas in Grozny, over 500 in Gudermes and some 200 rebels in Khankala, the spokesman said. All of them are armed with automatic weapons, grenade launchers and light mortars.
As many as 17 attacks on federal checkpoints, four on administrative buildings, one on a train, and three on military convoys have been registered in Chechnya since Monday.
31 suspected rebels were detained, 39 explosive devices were defused, and four weapons and ammo depots were destroyed, two of which were located in Grozny.
All Chechnya's roads are thoroughly controlled. Traffic is limited to passage only on special passes, military vehicles being no exception.
Federal scouts detected a rebel base operating in the Argun gorge, which was later subject to a massed artillery strike.