Russians Say Rebels Outsmarted Troops

As Russian soldiers tried to chase the last rebels out of the Chechen capital on Monday, the interior minister admitted that the rebel assault on the city had caught his troops off-guard.

Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov accused both Russian troops and Moscow-backed Chechen police of “outrageous negligence” in allowing the attack in the first place and poor coordination in fending it off.

The Interior Ministry said 170 Russian soldiers died in the four-day battle, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kulikov said about 1,000 rebels attacked Grozny, and 300 rebel fighters were killed and 350 wounded. That death toll was roughly double earlier Russian claims.

Civilians, as throughout the war, were caught in the fighting and the Moscow-backed Chechen government said 100 of them died in the Grozny battle. An estimated 30,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in 15 months of war.