KHANKALA, February 22 (AVN) - Federal units helped by a Chechen elite police party destroyed a 30-strong rebel group in the vicinity of Pervomaiskoye on Wednesday, a spokesman for the unified federal headquarters told the Military News Agency.
After the engagement, federals seized 17 30-mm mortar shells, 16 hand grenades, 10kg of TNT, 120 rounds for grenade launcher and over 9,000 firearms cartridges at the rebel base.
The spokesman failed to confirm that Novaya Gazeta correspondent Anna Politkovskaya, detained in Chechnya, went on hunger-strike. According to him, Politkovskaya is now with an airborne battalion stationed in the Khatuni locality. She feels good and she even enjoyed a field bath on Wednesday. As soon as the weather permits, she will be taken away from Khatuni.