Reporters Say 115 Died in Grozny

GROZNY -- Russian forces pounded central Grozny with shells and rockets Thursday, a day after rebel fighters wiped out an armored combat group, leaving the bodies of at least 115 soldiers sprawled on the streets.


An Associated Press reporter, who witnessed Wednesday's fighting, later counted the bodies and saw the blackened remains of seven tanks and eight armored personnel carriers on Minutka Square, close to the center of the Chechen capital. Many of the bodies were mangled by gun and rocket fire and were badly burned.


The battle late Wednesday appeared to be the worst defeat the Russian military has suffered since its forces entered Chechnya in September to try to restore Moscow's control over the breakaway republic.


Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russian generals angrily denied Thursday that their forces had suffered any losses or even attempted to send tanks into Grozny.


Using Cold War-style language, Putin and the military claimed the reports of the battle were a provocation by Western news agencies. The military alleged the agencies were working on behalf of the Chechen forces.


The Russian military said Thursday that only two government soldiers had been killed in fighting in Chechnya during the past 24 hours. Both sides tend to underreport their losses in the fighting.


A rebel commander, Tsupyan Magomadov, told The Associated Press he could not confirm casualty figures from the Minutka Square fighting. Interfax cited unspecified sources as saying 25 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in the ambush.


According to Magomadov, Russian artillery pounded the city and its outskirts Thursday, with fighting focusing on a hill that is the highest spot in Grozny. Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships flew every few minutes toward Grozny from the military airfield in Mozdok, just outside Chechnya.


A helicopter pilot, Captain Oleg Ovinov, said the aircraft struck rebel positions in a wooded area on Grozny's edge but did not attack the city proper.


It was not clear if the Russian armored group was the spearhead of a major attack on Grozny or a reconnaissance mission to test the rebels' defenses.


The Russians may also have penetrated farther into the city than they intended.


Hundreds of Chechen fighters firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns surrounded and trapped the armored column on the huge square, some 3 kilometers from the city center.


The large Russian tanks, trapped in the open, took repeated hits from the rebels, who were firing from concealed positions. Infantry in the lightly armored personnel carriers were mowed down as their vehicles burst into flames.


Russian generals have insisted for weeks that they will not mount a major ground attack on Grozny because they want to avoid the kind of heavy losses the army suffered in the city during a 1994-96 war. While the army has a huge advantage in artillery and tanks, the Russian infantry are mainly poorly trained conscripts facing experienced Chechen guerrillas, who excel at street fighting.


Despite the setback in Grozny, the Russian army said Thursday it would take the city within days. But the military has made similar predictions repeatedly in recent weeks.


Chechen fighters in Grozny, although encircled by Russian forces, appeared in good spirits after the fighting Wednesday, with leaders saying they were determined to hold out in the bomb-ravaged city. Several thousand militants are well-entrenched in the capital, where they have been preparing for weeks for a Russian assault.


The fighters "are afraid of nothing but Allah,'' said Grozny Mayor Lechi Dudayev.


The Russian military's march across Chechnya had faced limited resistance from the outgunned militants, who have repeatedly retreated rather than wage full-scale ground battles.


The rebels fiercely defended the capital at the beginning of the 1994-96 war against Russia and recaptured the city near the end of the conflict, both times inflicting heavy losses.


Anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 hungry civilians are believed trapped in the city, many too old and infirm to make the dangerous journey through Russian shelling out of the capital.


Russia said Thursday that 700 civilians left the city Wednesday evening via safe corridors established by the Russian military.