MOSCOW (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Russian forces launched new operations against Resistance forces in Chechnya on Sunday, news agencies reported, a day after a series of coordinated attacks by rebels on a series of towns in the region.
The Resistance announced no new activity, but said the aims of the operation had been achieved several days after President Vladimir Putin issued a call for disarmament and talks.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted an Interior Ministry spokesman as saying that 15 operations had been undertaken in the regional capital Grozny and in areas to the south and east where many of Saturday's Resistance attacks had occurred.
Explosives and weapons were seized, 10 suspects were detained and one was killed after offering armed resistance. (Read photo caption below)
RIA news agency said one policeman was killed and another was injured when Resistance men attacked a building housing security forces in Avtury.
Other reports said two officers had died and 19 were injured in Saturday's Resistance attack on a police station in Kurchaloi. They said no deaths were recorded in a similar strike on military and police buildings in Shali, further west.
News reports on Saturday had put the toll in Kurchaloi at three dead and 14 wounded with four dead in Shali. A Resistance spokesman had put security forces killed at 200 or more.
The www.kavkaz.org Internet site quoted Resistance commanders as saying that ``the main aims of the operation have been achieved with a minimum of losses and in the shortest possible time.''
The attacks were the first since Putin last Monday gave the Resistance 72 hours to start discussing disarmament with Moscow. Russian officials have since acknowledged making informal contacts with some Resistance leaders, but with little effect on events.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Russian sappers carry a shell which was placed as an explosive devise near a road in the Chechen capital of Grozny, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2001. Russian media reported Monday that hundreds of Chechen rebels had descended on Gudermes, a city in northern Chechnya that Russian forces reclaimed early in their conflict with separatists. (AP Photo/ Yuri Tutov)
- Sep 17 5:51 AM ET