VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia, Dec 14 (AFP) - Five Russian soldiers and three rebels were killed in Chechnya, either in fighting or by exploding landmines Monday and Tuesday, a military source said.
Three soldiers were killed Tuesday in fighting near southeastern Shali that also claimed the lives of three rebels, a Russian military official based in Chechnya told AFP on condition of anonymity. Another six soldiers were wounded.
One soldier was killed Tuesday near southern Shatoy when the military truck he was riding in struck a mine. Another three were wounded.
On Monday a soldier was killed by a mine in southeastern Vedeno, while another was wounded.
Elsewhere, a pro-Russian Chechen police officer was killed in a gunfight on Monday after his patrol was attacked in the Chechen capital Grozny. Two of his colleagues were wounded.
The Russian authorities regularly announce rebel deaths, but rarely report losses among Russian forces.
The toll from the fighting in Chechnya is a matter of dispute, with an official figure of some 5,300 Russian soldiers killed since the second Chechen war began in October 1999.
But a group of Russian mothers who have formed a respected organization to defend soldiers' rights puts their death toll at more than 13,000.
Fighting over the breakaway northern Caucasus republic endured from late 1994 to 1996, before erupting anew as a Russian "anti-terrorist operation" in October 1999.
12/14/2004 18:40 GMT - AFP