More than 40 Russian soldiers have been killed in four days of fierce clashes in Chechnya, a police source said yesterday, dismissing official reports that only 12 soldiers had died.
The Federal Interior Ministry source in Chechnya's second city Gudermes said fighting raged for a fifth day some 25 km south of the city.
Officially Moscow insisted that only 12 Russians had been killed and claimed the Chechen toll was more than 120.
The clashes erupted on Monday, only two days after Russia's top commander in Chechnya, Gen Gennady Troshev, had declared that the nine-month Chechen war over and won.
Moscow is keen to play down reports of fighting as the war drags on far beyond the quick and decisive offensive that President Vladimir Putin promised during his election campaign.
The Defence Minister, Mr Igor Sergeyev, said yesterday that the rebels had been all but wiped out. Interior Ministry troops would soon launch final "mopping up" operations in the region, he said.
Meanwhile Russian deputies yesterday gave Mr Putin the right to sack regional chiefs, bolstering the Kremlin leader in his moves to banish local governors from parliament. The Bill, approved in the Duma by 399 votes to nine, also allows Mr Putin suspend governors under criminal investigation and dissolve local assemblies if they approve laws that contradict federal legislation.