Russian troops retake city in fierce gunfight

CHECHEN resistance in the Russian city of Nalchik ended yesterday in a furious shoot-out as security forces stormed a bus in which rebels were trying to make an escape.

Meanwhile Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, promised tough new action against terrorism. He appeared on TV to tell the nation his forces had acted "coherently, effectively, toughly," in re-taking the town.

"Actions must be commensurate with all the threats that bandits pose for our country. We will act as toughly and consistently as we did on this occasion," he said.

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The final pocket of eight Chechens - assumed to be Muslim militants - having held out all night in a captured police station, had negotiated with the authorities to use a bus to take themselves and five hostages out of the city early in the morning.

They had held out after battles on Thursday that claimed more than 100 lives, turning the town's Number Three police headquarters into a besieged fortress.

But as the bus drove away through heavy rain, followed by police cars, the driver lost control and crashed into a tree.

Russian snipers opened fire and special forces soldiers stormed the bus, killing the rebels and freeing all five hostages unharmed. Meanwhile security forces stormed two more rebel positions, one in the city prison and the other in a tourist souvenir shop, killing all the rebels inside.

Two days of fighting in Nalchik, capital of the Caucasian province of Kabardino-Balkaria, has left 91 rebels and 24 members of the security forces dead, together with at least 14 civilians, according to the authorities.

Another 58 members of the security forces and at least 70 civilians were wounded and police said 36 rebels had been captured.

Russian units began combing the town and surrounding villages for survivors. The city itself was reported quiet, with bodies of dead rebels still on the streets as troops searched for snipers.

Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister launched what may be the start of a diplomatic offensive against Britain, complaining about comments by London-based Chechen dissident Akhmed Zakhayev.

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Mr Lavrov was reported by the Russian media as urging "appropriate measures" to be taken against Zakhayev after militant websites reported that he had supported the rebel action.

Russia has twice tried and failed to extradite the Chechen leader, once from Denmark and later from Britain - by which he has since been given political asylum.

Security forces recovered well from the attacks of Thursday morning, rushing six airborne units and rapid response interior ministry troops to the city.

But strategically, the attack is a blow to hopes that rebel forces in the Caucuses were unable to conduct large-scale operations. Izvestia, the Moscow newspaper, echoed the despair of many, declaring: "We have to admit, there is a war going on in the Caucuses."

It now seems clear that three republics, besides Chechnya are war zones: Dagestan, east of Chechnya, Ingushetia and now Kabardino-Balkaria. Each Muslim-majority province is dogged by high unemployment and rampant corruption, with ethnic tensions rising as the authorities crack down on Muslim organisations they say support the rebels. In the case of Kabardino-Balkaria this has seen dozens of mosques shut down.

Yet none of these measures have crushed the rebels, and Russia is shortly to face a new security headache, with regional elections due in November in Chechnya.

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