GROZNY. July 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Six federal servicemen were killed and eight were wounded when engaging rebels near the Chechen village of Dyshne-Vedeno, a source in the headquarters of the Combined Federal Force in the North Caucasus told Interfax. Three rebels were killed in the fight and one was detained.
The fighting occurred on Sunday night after the servicemen uncovered a group of rebels moving towards the village with hostile intentions.
The servicemen "were intending to intercept the rebels and started the fight," the source said.
The Vedeno regional interior affairs department has confirmed this information to Interfax.
All the wounded servicemen were given medical aid in the city of Shali. A group of investigators is working at the scene. The investigators are working to identify the rebels and their possible accomplices, a source told Interfax.
"A group of 30 people from the Argun Jamaat (rebel administration - Interfax) attacked the patrol. The servicemen called for assistance, but did not engage in intensive exchange of fire with the rebels because of the threat to the village population," Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the regional headquarters overseeing the anti-guerilla operation in the North Caucasus, said.
The rebels were directly engaged as they were being squeezed out of the village. "As a result, six rebels were killed. Several servicemen from the commandant's company and a special company led by Sulim Yamadayev suffered losses. Six people were killed and six were wounded," he said.
"These federal units - the commandant's company and Yamadayev's company - are made up solely of Chechens," he said.