5 Russian troops killed in Chechnya

Friday, 05 February 2010

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) — Officials say five Russian troops have been killed in a clash with militants in Chechnya.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry's Chechen division, Magomed Deniev, said Friday that the fight broke out late Thursday outside Shalazhi, a village in the foothills of the southern Chechnya mountains where rebels are sheltered.

He says five ministry troops were killed and six others wounded.

It is among the largest Russian losses in a single incident in several months. Full-scale fighting between insurgents and Russian forces in Chechnya ended in the early 2000s, but small clashes and roadside bombings persist.