10 Russian servicemen killed in Chechnya

Ten Russian servicemen have been killed in Chechnya by land mines and rebel attacks over the past 24 hours.

Five Russian soldiers were killed and 12 wounded when rebels launched 24 separate attacks on Russian positions and checkpoints, an official in Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration said.

Two soldiers were killed when their jeep hit a land mine in Vedeno. Three other soldiers died when their truck detonated a mine in Grozny.

Interior Ministry troops shot and killed an armed rebel during a raid in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Six more Chechen guerrillas were killed by units of the local military commandant's office during the same raid, the press bureau of the Russian Interior Ministry said.

Russian military gunships shelled suspected rebel hideouts in the Vedeno region and Nozhai-Yurt on the eastern border, and near Itum-Kale on the southern border with Georgia, the official said.