``Today we will raise the Russian flag over Tando,'' vowed General Vladimir Kulakov, who commands interior ministry forces in the region.

After seizing control of all access routes to the village on Saturday night, Russian forces moved in and captured part of Tando, the press centre of the defence ministry here said.

Russian troops also strengthened their hold on the Kharami mountain pass, a key rebel supply route from Chechnya which they managed to seize on Saturday night, military officials said. ``It is 100 per cent sealed off,'' Kulakov said. He added that the seizure of the Khatami pass was a turning point in the fighting, noting that without access to the supply route, the rebels would not be able to hold out much longer.

Dagestani volunteers were sent in to beef up Russian check pointscontrolling access to the mountain pass where fighting on Saturday left 28 rebels dead, according to the press centre of the Russian defence ministry here. ``The mountain pass is completely under the control of Russian forces,'' said a press spokesman at the defence ministry.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin enlisted Islamic leaders in the battle for Dagestan as Russian warplanes pounded rebel-held mountain villages, where fighting entered its third week.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, cautioned that there was no quick solution to the conflict in the northern Caucasus.

Russian planes carried out 16 bombing raids in 24 hours to try to dislodge rebels holed up in mountain villages in the Botlikh district of southwest Dagestan, the Defence Ministry said.

The Dagestan interior department also said Russian forces had killed 27 rebels and wounded 11 others on Saturday, while three Dagestani volunteers had been wounded.

The death toll on the rebel side from two weeks of fighting has reached between 500and 700, Colonel Vladimir Kulakov of the Russian Air Force was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying.

While the air campaign gathered force in Dagestan, the new Russian Prime Minister won pledges of support from grand mufti Sheik Ravil Gainutdin, the spiritual leader of Russia's 12 million Muslims.