KHANKALA. Oct 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Army and police formations have destroyed 42 rebels in Chechnya this month, a spokesman for the unified federal headquarters said on Monday.
Federals have eliminated 1,064 illegal oil refineries and 90 caches containing arms, ammo and materiel, the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency. They detained 97 suspected rebels, he said.
According to federal troops commander Lieutenant General Vladimir Moltenskoi, this month the troops have mostly operated in Chechen mountains, where a lot of rebel gangs are concentrated. Reconnaissance data shows that many extremist bases are located there, and guerrilla leaders are establishing ties and interaction between their gangs. The situation remained complicated in Grozny, Argun and Achkhoi-Martan too.
In spite of that, federal forces will undergo a reduction soon, Moltenskoi said. A higher responsibility will be put on units and formations of the 42nd motorised rifle division and forces of military commandant's offices. Military commandants of Chechen districts are senior military commanders in their areas of responsibility, and both army and police forces are reporting to them.
Moltenskoi said the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces was working on the new establishment of Chechen military commandant's offices. Their personnel is to be increased, and commandant's companies are likely to acquire a status of separate tactical units.