Chechen rebels kill 11 Russian soldiers

Rebels in Chechnya have killed 11 Russian soldiers in their latest attacks.

Four died when a Russian military convoy was ambushed on a mountain road near the village of Vedeno in southern Chechnya.

Shell attacks on Russian outposts killed a further two soldiers, while radio controlled land mines accounted for the other casualties.

The convoy was attacked when the leading vehicle was blown up by a mine on a narrow road. Rebels then bombarded the trapped troops with mortar shells and automatic gunfire.

During the 20-minute battle, the rebels killed four Russian servicemen and wounded 12 others before retreating to avoid Russian helicopter gunships, said an official with the pro-Moscow Chechen government, who asked not to be named.

The rebels continued to raid Russian outposts elsewhere in Chechnya, killing two servicemen and wounding seven others in 19 shellings during the last 24 hours, the official said.

The insurgents also kept up their mining war, blowing up a Russian armoured personnel carrier and a military truck on radio-controlled land mines in the Chechen capital, Grozny.

At least four federal servicemen were killed and more than six wounded in those attacks.

Grozny fell into Russian hands more than a year ago, but it has remained infested with rebels.

A Russian sapper was also killed Thursday in the village of Starye Atagi while trying to defuse a rebel mine.