KHANKALA. June 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Federal sappers have defused an explosive device planted in the hollow of a tree on a roadside in the Grozny rural district, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Berzeitis, deputy commander of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus, said on Monday.
"Sappers found and defused a radio-controlled landmine at the entrance to the Gikalovsky village in the Grozny rural district. The landmine was assembled on the basis of a 122mm mortar shell," Berzeitis told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Another landmine made of 25 TNT charges weighing a total of 5kg was destroyed on a side of the Agishbatoi-Ersenoi road in the Vedeno district, he said.
A large cache of fuses and ammunition has been exposed in the Mairtup village in the Kurchaloi district, Berzeitis noted.
The regional operational headquarters managing the anti- guerilla operation in the North Caucasus told Interfax-AVN on Monday that a masked temporary base intended for 20 to 30 rebels has been found near the Dattykh village in the Nozhai-Yurt district with the help of local residents.
Servicemen examined the base and found a cache that contained 10 PG-7 grenade launcher rounds, TNT charges weighing a total of 1.6kg, two 82-mm mortar shells, three home-made explosive devices, 25 sets of aluminium utensils, and foodstuffs.
Law-enforcers found a cache in a ruined house in the Borzoi village of the Shatoi district. The cache contained an RPG-26 grenade launcher, 1,025 1.72-mm cartridges, five rounds for the VOG-25 underbarrel grenade launcher, 400g of TNT, and two smoke charges.
"A home-made stationary projectile launcher was found in a ruined house on the Grozny outskirts," HQ spokesman Colonel Ilya Shabalkin said.
The launcher was aimed at the nearby military base. Such systems can be used against both ground and aerial targets.