Chechen rebels said Sunday that eight Russians soldiers were killed and another 17 injured in a series of hit-and-run guerrilla attacks in the separatist capital Grozny.
A spokesman for Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov said three Russian soldiers were killed and another four injured when their armored personnel carrier hit a remote-controlled mine in Grozny's central Zovodskoi district.
The rebels said that another four soldiers were killed and 14 injured in separate sniper attacks on Russian checkpoints set up across the shelled-out city.
Russian officials however said that only one soldier had died and two received injuries in the explosion of an armored personnel carrier. They gave no other casualty figures.
Chechens and Russians have issued contradictory casualty figures throughout the 25-month ground war in the separatist Russian republic.
Daily skirmishes continue in Chechnya despite last month's attempts to open the first direct peace talks between the two sides – Sleptsovsk (AFP)
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