Chechen fighters have killed six pro-Moscow police and wounded another nine, local media reported on Saturday in a major blow to Russian forces in the turbulent region.

Also, Chechen resistance reported the death of its top commander in a clash with pro-Moscow security forces earlier this week.

Local news agencies reported that four policemen had died in a firefight in the Vedeno region on Friday, in the heart of Chechnya's mountainous south. Five police were also injured, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Interfax news agency said another two policemen were killed and four more were injured on Friday when their car was fired on in the regional capital Grozny, which has been devastated by a decade of war between separatist rebels and Russian forces.

Clashes occur daily in Chechnya, although large-scale battles are a thing of the past. But it is rare for Russia, which still has more than 100,000 troops in and around the region, to lose so many police in a single day.

Chechen resistance web site reported that its top commander Akhmad Avdorkhanov died in a clash on Monday.

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