A pro-Russian Chechen official was shot dead and a Russian soldier was killed in a mine blast in the breakaway republic of Chechnya in the past 24 hours, Russian military sources said on Wednesday.
The head of the local administration in the village of
Tsotsin-Yurt, 50 kilometres east of the capital Grozny, was shot late on Tuesday by an unknown gunman who fired from a passing car, military officials told the RIA Novosti news agency.
The killer, driving a car without registration plates, was able to make good his escape.
Pro-Russian Chechen officials are regarded by rebels as collaborators and frequently targeted. Several dozen have been killed since the beginning of the Chechen conflict on October 1, 1999.
Separately, a Russian soldier died and another was wounded when a mine was exploded late on Tuesday by remote control at Alkhan-Churt, near Grozny, the same sources said.
Russian troops have been engaged in Chechnya for nearly three years in what Moscow terms an anti-terrorist operation but which has since unraveled into a brutal guerrilla war with daily casualties on both sides.
Russia has so far lost around 4 500 troops in the conflict, according to its own figures, although independent observers suggest that the true figure may be three times higher. – Sapa-AFP