GROZNY, Chechnya -- Local authorities claimed a high turnout in Chechen elections Monday, despite severe disruptions to polling by Chechen rebels in several key towns and heavy fighting by Russian forces in Gudermes, the republic's second city, where Russian forces were reported to have suffered heavy casualties.


The chief of Chechen forces Aslan Maskhadov said his fighters had killed "hundreds" of Russian soldiers in an attack on Gudermes, 30 kilometers east of Grozny, where they have surrounded the Russian command post.


The election commission in Grozny said general turnout across the republic was 53.6 percent with 242,200 people voting. The figure included soldiers now stationed permanently in the region who were entitled to vote in local elections, commission secretary Tatyana Pashko said.


The rebels launched their attack on Gudermes Thursday morning, the day polling began in the war-torn republic, and Chechens arriving in Grozny from the area said fighting was still continuing Monday.


Maskhadov told an AFP journalist Saturday that his forces controlled the town fully and that he had planned the attack specifically to prevent elections taking place.


Russian forces made another attempt Saturday to break through to their men inside the posts, a military spokesman in Grozny said. But fighting appeared to be continuing Sunday and Monday according to Chechens from the area who heard continued shelling. Russian troops have blocked all the main roads to Gudermes, making independent confirmation impossible. However, Russian military sources told Reuters on Monday they were preparing to launch an all-out attack, with air strikes and heavy artillery, to re-take the city.


At the same time as Sunday's Gudermes battle, rebel fighters secured their control of three main buildings in the center of Urus Martan, south of Grozny and set up a checkpoint on the road north to Grozny.


Elsewhere, the Chechen separatists have successfully prevented elections in a whole swathe of territories on the plain south of Grozny where they still command strong loyalty among the population in the villages.


Journalists visiting villages in the Shali region, southeast of Grozny on Saturday found no evidence of voting although the electoral commission recorded a 35 percent turnout there.


Official results were not expected until the end of the day Monday, but preliminary results gave the current Moscow-appointed prime minister, Doku Zavgayev, a sweeping 93 percent victory in what has been essentially a one-horse race for head of the republic.


The last stragglers came to vote Sunday in an almost deserted capital. After four days of polling, aimed to give voters time in case of any violent disruption, there was little enthusiasm left. One polling station was closed Sunday, where officials said they had run out of ballot papers.


Grozny itself was quiet with soldiers keeping tight control over the city, blocking off all the main streets from traffic and only allowing local drivers through.


?New York Times correspondent Steve LeVine and his translator Nana Kiknadze were wounded Saturday outside Urus Martan when a Chechen fighter fired a rocket-propelled grenade above the heads of a small crowd of people just meters away from them. Both were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds in the legs.