Russian troops pound Chechen rebels

Russian troops today continued pounding bands of Chechen rebels in the area where a British TV cameraman was killed yesterday.

Roddy Scott, a 28-year-old freelancer, was killed in a Russian rocket attack on the rebels he was with in the southern republic of Ingushetia.

Up to 150 guerillas are trying to cross the 70 miles from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge to Chechnya. The fighting is centred on the village of Galashki, less than a mile from the Chechen border.

“All possible paths they could use have been blocked,” said Khamatkhan Albakov, the deputy interior minister of Ingushetia.

The rebels shot down an Mi-24 helicopter, killing both pilots, yesterday. A third helicopter crew member and 14 other Russian troops were killed and 11 wounded, local reports said.

Vladimir Chirkin, chief of staff of Russia’s 58th army, said today that 50 to 70 rebels were killed yesterday, but Russian military officials and the media routinely inflate Chechen casualty figures.

By late yesterday, Russian forces had surrounded Galashki, and officials said the remaining rebels were trapped on a farm.

The outbreak of fighting in Ingushetia broadened the battleground of the Chechen war, highlighting Moscow’s failure to contain the conflict.

But Russian officials seized on the chance to throw a spotlight on Georgia’s failure to eliminate rebels and alleged terrorists who had taken refuge in its territory.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said the incursion could be the last straw, leading Moscow to deliver on its frequent threats to take preventive strikes inside Georgia, before rebels reach Russian territory.