Chechen rebels kill at least 48 in Russian attack

THOUSANDS of troops poured into a southern Russian city yesterday chasing suspected Chechen rebels who set fire to police and government buildings and killed at least 48 people in overnight attacks.

Three high-ranking regional officials were among the dead in the militants' foray into Ingushetia.

The attacks underscored the Russian military's failure to defeat separatists in neighbouring Chechnya after five years of fighting, and raised new fears of spreading violence in southern Russia.

Many Chechen fighters trained and fought with the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Russia says many Arabs and other foreigners fight side-by-side with the Chechen rebels.

The Chechen militants also are said to receive support from al-Qaida and have strong contacts with the Wahabi Muslim sect of Saudi Arabia, birthplace of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered authorities "to find and destroy" the militants whose raid came amid preparations for an August election to replace Kremlin-backed Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, killed last month in a bomb attack.

Shortly before midnight on Monday, about 100 fighters armed with grenades and rocket launchers seized the regional Interior Ministry in Nazran, the largest city in Ingushetia and attacked border guard posts there. They also attacked posts in two villages near the border with Chechnya.

Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told Mr Putin that 15 officers from the Ingush Interior Ministry's central building defended the structure for nearly six hours in a bid to keep rebels from entering the jail cells and freeing captives.

Authorities sent in reinforcements, with a long column of armoured personnel carriers.

By mid-morning, most of the militants had fled into the thick forests on the border of Ingushetia and Chechnya, authorities said.

Ingush President Murat Zyazikov told the Interfax news agency that a large number of weapons and ammunition were missing from police depots.

Russian media reported only two militant deaths. An Associated Press reporter also saw the body of one militant near Yandare.

At least one group of rebels was caught by police as they retreated through Galashki, near the Chechen border, and a firefight was under way last night, said a spokesman for Ingushetia's Interior Ministry.

Officials said some fighters shouted "Allahu akhbar" a cry of Chechen rebels as they come under the influence of radical Islam.

Chechnya's Interior Minister Alu Alkhanov said he believed Shamil Basayev, a Chechen rebel commander who has been blamed for some attacks, was behind the foray. The Kremlin is backing Mr Alkhanov in Chechnya's upcoming presidential elections.