-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Russian generals killed in major assault by Chechen rebels Peter Graff In Moscow and Uri Bagrov In Nazran CHECHEN rebels launched their biggest offensive in months yesterday, attacking several towns including the breakaway republic’s second-largest city and shooting down a Russian helicopter carrying two generals and eight other top officers. The Russian interior minister, Boris Gryzlov, was quoted as saying that about 300 rebels had attacked Gudermes, the region’s second city and main railway junction which is about 20 miles east of the capital, Grozny. Interfax news agency said that at least ten Russian interior ministry troops had been killed and eight wounded. Interfax quoted Mr Gryzlov, as saying Russian troops were battling the rebels in Gudermes and army forces would be sent to blockade the town and bombard it with artillery and tanks. The Russian military commander in Chechnya, Colonel-General Valery Baranov, said Moscow had responded to the attacks and federal troops had killed at least 15 rebels in fighting in Gudermes. "We have taken measures to toughen security in Grozny, throughout the Chechen Republic. We have launched an operation to arrest fighters and destroy them," he said. More than 400 people suspected of helping the rebel groups had been arrested, and air and artillery strikes had been launched against regions where rebels could hide, he added. The downing of the helicopter was a rare loss of top officers. "At 12:15, an Mi-8 was shot down after taking off from the government landing pad in the Minutka region of Grozny," Gen Baranov said. "Two generals and eight colonels were killed, all from the general staff, as well as the crew." Unlike other recent rebel offensives mainly confined to the mountains, yesterday’s attacks took place mostly in lowland territory that Russia has claimed to be more or less safely under its control since early last year. The rebels said a suicide car bomb had struck a Russian checkpoint in the town of Argun, and fighters had also attacked a convoy in Grozny and seized buildings in the major mountain village of Nozhai Yurt. "This is a co-ordinated military operation," Movladi Udugov, a rebel spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. He said it was the largest operation the rebels had carried out in months. Mr Udugov, who is linked to the guerrilla commander, Shamil Basayev, said a suicide bomber had detonated a car bomb at a Russian checkpoint in the town of Argun, a suburb east of Grozny, which then saw heavy firefights. Reports on the number of rebels who attacked Gudermes have varied. The head of the Moscow-appointed administration, Akhmad Kadyrov, put it at 15, while RTR television cited unidentified Chechen officials as saying there were up to 400 attackers. Local residents put the number of rebels at about 100. They said the attack began at dawn with rebels surrounding most of the Russian outposts and administrative buildings in the city and spraying them with gunfire. Mr Udugov claimed the rebels were in near complete control of Gudermes. Russian forces guarding the headquarters of the city’s military administration had fled to the cellar and were negotiating with the rebels. Monday’s events followed two mine attacks on Russian troops Sunday. In Grozny, three Russian soldiers died and 12 were injured when their truck was blown up by a remote-controlled land mine in the city’s Zavodskoy district. Another mine explosion in the Chechen capital killed two serviceman. Russian forces, which withdrew from Chechnya after a 1994-96 war, returned in 1999 and have since occupied most territory. However, they have failed to kill or capture top rebel leaders, whom they link to extremists abroad, including Osama bin Laden, the Afghanistan-based Saudi-born exile named by Washington as a prime suspect in last week’s attacks on the United States. - Reuters and AP *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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