KHANKALA. Aug 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Aviation and artillery of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus hit rebels in the vicinity of Galsan-Chu, Chechnya's Nozhai-Yurt district, on Thursday afternoon.
"A special operation against some 50 rebels has been taking place in the district for three days. At the beginning of the operation, the federal forces blocked the rebels and retreated to put the rebels under fire. Aviation and artillery have been striking the rebels almost non-stop for three days," a spokesman for the forces' command told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The rebels' resistance that was extremely active at the first stage of the operation has been crashed, he said.
"The command of the Combined Federal Forces has made a decision to destroy the entire gang, which will be followed by a mop-up operation in the district," the spokesman said.
He did not specify the number of killed guerrillas, saying that data on the matter were constantly changing.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Moltenskoi start acting in the place of the Combined Federal Forces commander on Wednesday evening, the spokesman said. According to preliminary data, the current commander of the forces, Lieutenant General Sergei Makarov, is taking a vacation.