SERNOVODSK, Russia -- Through heavy fog, Russian troops and helicopter gunships on Friday mounted attacks on a half dozen towns in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, and the military said it had the capital of Grozny 80 percent surrounded.

Army officials said they expected to take the rebel stronghold of Bamut, in western Chechnya, this weekend after weeks of shelling.Still, Russia faces a long struggle for the loyalty of Chechens. In Sernovodsk, residents say the Russians may have won the town, but not their hearts.

Most residents of Sernovodsk, 28 miles west of Grozny, fled as Russia began shelling the town in mid-October. When they returned a month later, they said they found Russian troops had looted their property.

"How can we come to agreement with Russian officers if they couldn't even control their men?" said Idris Elchukayev, a farm director. "How we can live here after what has happened? I don't know."

Russian officials have said they expect cooperation from Chechens tired of the lawlessness that has plagued the republic since it became effectively independent at the end of the 1994-96 war with Russia. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, who was widely admired as a rebel commander in that war, has been unable to control warlords and bandits. Kidnapping is widespread and the economy in shambles.

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Chechens also resent the suffering endured since Russia launched its offensive in early September to wipe out Islamic militants who twice invaded Dagestan this summer and who are blamed for bombings in Russia that killed some 300 people.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in indiscriminate Russian attacks, according to Chechen officials. More than 217,000 others have fled, often ending up cold and hungry in refugee camps.

The refugees' plight was underlined this week by U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata's visit to camps along Chechnya's border.

Ogata said Friday that her agency wanted to swiftly send international staff and additional aid to the region. Winter weather makes the needs more pressing, but the agency was waiting for the Russian government to provide security guarantees before increasing its presence in the region, Ogata told reporters in Moscow.

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