DATE=2/6/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHECHEN FIGHTING (L)
NUMBER=2-258864
BYLINE=BILL GASPERINI
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian troops continue consolidating their
control over Grozny, the devastated capital city of
Chechnya. At the same time field commanders say
they're shifting their attention to the fight against
Chechen rebels in the
southern mountains. Bill Gasperini reports from
Moscow.
TEXT: Russian forces are moving slowly through the
ruins of Grozny searching for
any Chechen fighters who are still there.
Several thousand Chechens managed to slip through
Russian lines out of the city last week in a tactical
retreat after months of intensive fighting.
Russian officers say the federal troops will soon
control ALL of Grozny...but that pockets of resistance
still remain.
Troops are also looking through villages south of the
capital where many rebels are thought to have gone.
Footage shown on Russian television shows lines of
fighters making their way up into the Caucasus
mountains, dressed in white for camouflage against the
snow.
Despite this retreat, one group of rebels attacked a
village south of Grozny, killing several Russian
soldiers before the troops counterattacked.
Chechen leaders say the war will continue in just such
a fashion, with hit-and-run attacks directed at
Russian positions.
But TV footage confirmed that the Chechens paid a
heavy price during the escape from Grozny, when they
had to walk across a minefield.
Bodies of dead fighters lay around a makeshift
hospital in the village of Alkhan-Kala just outside
Grozny.
Other footage showed notorious warlord Shamil Basayev
undergoing an operation in the hospital last Monday.
He lost a foot during the retreat from Grozny, while
several other top commanders were killed. Mr. Basayev
is Russia's most wanted man, blamed in part for
provoking the current war by leading two incursions
into neighboring Dagestan last summer.
Meanwhile police in Moscow have issued another alert
about possible bombings similar to ones which killed
hundreds of people last September.
Trucks entering the city are being searched at
checkpoints after there were reports someone was
trying to smuggle explosives into the capital.
(Signed)
NEB/BG/PLM
06-Feb-2000 06:57 AM EDT (06-Feb-2000 1157 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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