Gudermes - Chechen rebels sharply escalated their offensive against Russian troops yesterday, staging a bloody incursion into the town of Argun after a suicide bombing in the capital Grozny. Four soldiers died on Sunday when a Russian Muslim convert detonated his car filled with explosives at a military post in Grozny, a Chechen separatist spokesman said.
In Argun near Grozny fierce fighting left "dead and wounded" on both sides.
A French photographer Brice Fleutiaux (32), held hostage in Chechnya since last October was freed yesterday by Russian forces, the Russian interior ministry said.