SLEPTSOVSKAYA, Russia -- Chechen rebels entrenched in a southern town reneged on a deal to surrender and are stubbornly resisting Russian troops trying to gain complete control of the village, the military command said Wednesday.
The federal command's press center told the Interfax news agency that about 150 rebels in the town of Komsomolskoye had agreed to surrender. "Instead, they opened fire against the federal troops," the press center said.The federal military had claimed complete control Tuesday over Komsomolskoye, but some rebels refuse to give up.
The two-week battle for Komsomolskoye has reduced nearly every house to ruins and highlighted the difficulty Russia will have trying to control Chechnya.
During the night, the rebels made several attempts to slip by Russian positions and escape to the mountains but were beaten back, the command said. Wednesday, Russian troops were deploying tanks and artillery in Komsomolskoye in "a tough mopping-up operation."
Russian warplanes flew 60 combat missions against rebel bases in the Argun and Vedeno gorges and destroyed three rebel strongholds in the southern mountains, Interfax reported.
The federal command said Tuesday that 500 to 600 rebels and 50 Russian soldiers had been killed during the Komsomolskoye fighting, which saw almost all local residents flee as their houses were bombed and shelled. The casualty claims could not be confirmed.
The war has sent an estimated 250,000 Chechens fleeing from their homes, with many of them ending up in refugee camps in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, where they complain of poor conditions.
"Every day we do not know what to expect. We are nervous," said Adam Madayev, a refugee in the Sputnik camp near Sleptsovskaya.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Shoigu denied reports Wednesday that the Emergency Situations Ministry would stop providing humanitarian aid to the refugees in Ingushetia. The focus of aid would move to Chechnya, he said at a news conference, but food would continue to be sent to the refugees.
Ingushetia's President Ruslan Aushev said Tuesday that federal aid for humanitarian aid deliveries had dried up and that many refugees were no longer getting help. An Associated Press reporter saw refugees at one camp getting bread and water but nothing else.
Russian ground troops entered Chechnya in late September after rebels invaded the neighboring Russian region of Dagestan last summer. Russia now controls most of Chechnya, but hasn't been able to defeat rebels holding out in the southern mountains.
Meanwhile, the Council of Europe said Wednesday that it has reached a deal with Russia to allow three of its human rights experts to be posted to Chechnya.
The France-based council had threatened to suspend member Russia unless it improves human rights in Chechnya and takes steps to end the conflict in the republic. The council was set up in 1949 to promote human rights and democracy in postwar Europe.
Russia and a council committee must formally approve the deal before the envoys can leave.