Official killed as Moscow pursues Chechen offensive

Official killed as Moscow pursues Chechen offensive

GUDERMES (RUSSIA), MAY 31: Russia's second-ranking official in the breakaway republic of Chechnya was assassinated as Moscow pursued a ferocious drive on Wednesday to crush rebel resistance in the southern mountains.

Sergei Zverev was killed on the outskirts of the Chechen capital Grozny when his car drove over a remote-controlled mine, a Russian official in the breakaway republic's second city Gudermes told AFP on condition of anonymity. Russian news agencies said Chechen rebels had simultaneously opened fire on Zverev's car in the attack late on Tuesday.

Moscow's top civilian representative in Chechnya, Nikolai Koshman, rushed to Chechnya to investigate his deputy's death, his spokesman Yury Mikhailov told military news agency AVN. He denounced what he called a "planned terrorist act." It was the first time a high-ranking Russian official has been killed in Chechnya since hostilities in the separatist republic resumed last October. The attack came as Russian troops continued to battle with rebels in Chechnya's remote southern mountains, where an operation to crush dogged guerrilla resistance entered its third day on Wednesday.

Moscow says it has cornered at least 400 rebels in the Nozhai-Yurt and Vedeno districts in eastern and southeastern Chechnya, ``These are the best organized extremist units led by prominent field commanders, including Khattab (a lieutenant of warlord Shamil Basayev),'' military sources told the Interfax news agency. They said federal troops were also engaged in an operation against rebels in the village of Samashki West of the Chechen capital Grozny. A wood where a large guerrilla force was thought hidden was surrounded. At least 70 rebels have been killed so far in the offensive, while the Russian side has lost nine dead and over 30 wounded, according to the military.

Russian forces are trying to evade direct combat with the guerrillas, and are pounding them with Air strikes and heavy artillery, but cannot completely evade contact and are suffering casualties, the sources told Interfax. Russia's top commander, Chief of Staff General Anatoly Kvashnin, is in the region monitoring operations. Moscow estimates some 3,000 fighters are still active in southern Chechnya, and government troops have so far failed to deliver a knock-out blow to the rebels, who have killed hundreds of Russian soliders in a series of bold raids this year.

The Chechen separatists made no immediate claim of responsbility for Tuesday night's attack. Zverev had Left Grozny on his way to Urus-Martan, 25 kilometres (15 miles) southwest of the capital. He was accompanied by the mayor of Grozny, Supyan Mokhchayev, who was injured in the explosion. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, however, suggested that the target was not Zverev but Grozny's pro-Moscow mayor.

``It appears that the terrorist act was carried out against the Grozny mayor Mokhchayev, who has long been on the rebels' hit list,'' Yastrzhembsky said, cited by Interfax. He added that the mayor was on his way to a meeting, which was public knowledge.

A Chechen woman in the car, Nurseda Khabuseyev, an assistant of the mayor, was also killed in the attack, Russian news agencies said. Meanwhile, one Russian soldier was killed and 14 wounded Wednesday when an explosive device went off near a military facility in the southern city of Volgograd, ITAR-TASS news agency said quoting officials.

The ministry of emergency situations immediately blamed a ``terrorist act'' but it was not immediately clear if the incident was linked to the nine-month conflict in Chechnya. The ministry said the device had been attached to a tree and went off when a military convoy passed by after leaving the nearby facility, according to the agency. The death toll was revised down from earlier estimates, which said six soldiers had died and seven were injured.