Chechen snipers are firing on Russian forces in Grozny, Russia's war command acknowledged Tuesday, contradicting an earlier claim that rebel fighters had been flushed out of the capital of Chech-nya.
"Shooting from small arms has become a permanent characteristic of Grozny at night," the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass quoted an unidentified military spokesman as saying.Russian troops pushed Chechen fighters out of the city center weeks ago but have skirmished with rebels on the outskirts. Military officials said Monday Russian troops had overrun the final rebel stronghold in Grozny, the southern district of Chernorechiye.
A bus evacuating refugees from that area hit a mine Monday near Achkhoy-Martan, 15 miles southwest of Grozny. Ten people were killed, including a child, according to the International Organization for Migration, which evacuates people by bus from the capital every day.
Five people were severely wounded, spokeswoman Regina Boucault said in Geneva. The bus, carrying 47 people, was one of two taking refugees to a reception center on the Ingushetia border, she said.
Several hundred refugees waited anxiously Tuesday to pass a new Russian checkpoint near Achkhoy-Martan.
Nervous Russian army soldiers hid behind hastily erected barricades, tracking approaching civilians wanting to pass with sniper rifles.