Moscow - The Chechen rebel website, Kavkaz.org, said a group of rebels had moved from Nozhai-Yurt to nearby Tsentoroi where they fought a four-hour battle with Russian soldiers in which 20 Russians were killed.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted the military as saying 100 guerrillas died in the fighting. Interfax said a top Chechen field commander had been killed in Komsomolskoye. The village is in rubble after two weeks of fierce fighting.