GROZNY. Sept 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Three servicemen got various injuries when their light armored prime mover hit a landmine in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny, a spokesman for the central military commandant's office of the city told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"This happened at about 11:00 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Thursday. The prime mover carrying a group of servicemen was riding a street of Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district with the mission to deliver food to the military commandant's office. Rebels activated a radio-controlled landmine effectively under the prime mover," the spokesman said.
The injured soldiers were evacuated to a military hospital in Khankala, he said.
A source in the unified federal headquarters told Interfax-AVN that three explosive devices were disarmed in Chechnya on Thursday. One of them was made on the basis of an anti-tank missile and planted on a tree near a bridge across the river in the city of Argun. Its blast could have injured both servicemen and civilians.
The day before, federal forces prevented a subversive and terrorist act in the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya, a spokesman for the unified federal headquarters in the North Caucasus told Interfax-AVN.
"A unit of the Interior Ministry troops found a group planting a landmine on a side of the road from Asinovskaya to Novy Sharoi at about 6:00 p.m. Moscow time (1400 GMT) on Wednesday. An attempt was made to detain the extremists, but they fired small arms at the servicemen. At that moment the landmine that had been planted by the guerrillas went off," the spokesman said.
The blast killed three guerrillas, he added.
Meanwhile, the Russian Air Force is sending reinforcements to the North Caucasus. Numerous attack planes and bombers have been moved to North Caucasus air strips, in particular in Mozdok, so as to reduce the flight time to less than 10 minutes for striking at rebel targets, a source in the headquarters of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"The aviation's main goal at the moment is to conduct aerial reconnaissance along the Georgian border so as to prevent penetration of guerrillas from Georgia and their scattering on the Russian territory," the source said.
"Powerful aviation and artillery strikes will be inflicted on guerrillas if they try to cross the border," he stressed.
According to the source, federal SU-24 Fencer and SU-25 Frogfoot planes flew four combat missions on Wednesday. MI-8 Hip helicopters accomplished five surveillance missions. MI-24 Hind helicopters escorted five federal military convoys and flew over 20 missions to control the situation and inflict strikes on minor rebel gangs.
Aviation strikes destroyed a transmitter and two guerrilla strongpoints with an observation tower in Chechnya on Wednesday.