Russian forces killed 25 Chechen rebels in the mountainous south of the breakaway republic over the past 24 hours, military officials told ITAR-TASS on Friday in the Chechen capital Grozny.
The rebels were killed in a series of special operations backed by helicopter strikes in the southern Argun and Vedeno gorges, where fighting has focused since the start of the Chechen war two years ago.
The reports made no mention of Russian casualties, although it mentioned that federal positions came under attack 16 times over the same 24-hour span.
Both Russian and rebel spokesmen regularly inflate the number of casualties they have inflicted on the other side, while minimizing their own losses.
Russian forces are attempting to put down a separatist insurgency in Chechnya, having poured troops into the republic just over two years ago, on October 1, 1999 -- MOSCOW (AFP)
