Grozny - Russian warplanes blasted the centre of Grozny amid media reports yesterday that tank reinforcements had pulled up to the outskirts of the rebel republic's second city of Gudermes.
NTV television reported that new armoured personnel carriers and tanks had moved towards Gudermes from the neighbouring easterly Russian republic of Ingushetia. The city has already been sealed off by Russian forces and the television report suggested that orders to storm Gudermes were now imminent. The Defence Ministry's press service in Moscow could not be reached for comment because of a Russian public holiday. A Chechen military commander said more than 1,000 rebel fighters were in Gudermes, some 30 km (18 miles) east of Grozny. Moscow estimates the size of the Chechen force inside Gudermes at fewer than 100 men.
