Moscow - A Chechen rebel spokesman, Mr Movladi Udugov, yesterday said two women had driven a truck loaded with explosives into a Russian military building, killing 27 Russian soldiers, in the village of AlkhanYurt, south-west of Grozny. "The women deliberately went to their death in the name of Allah and the freedom of the Chechen people," Mr Udugov said.
Russian generals initially denied his claims but the Kremlin spokesman, Mr Sergei Yastrzhembsky, later confirmed a suicide attack had taken place, although he said that only two paramilitary police were killed and five injured.
Mr Udugov also said rebels had ambushed a Russian armoured column in the Nozhay-Yurt district in the remote south-eastern mountains. Russian sources did not report such a clash.