VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia - Four Russian federal troops were killed in Chechnya in a 24-hour period, an official in the local pro-Russian government told AFP on Wednesday.
Two soldiers died and two were wounded near the southeastern town of Shali when their armoured personnel carrier hit a landmine, the official said, asking not to be named.
And two sappers died in separate incidents while defusing mines, one in the capital Grozny and one in the town of Gudermes. Another sapper was wounded.
Russian troops have been fighting separatist guerrillas in mostly Muslim Chechnya for more than five years, following an earlier war there from 1994 to 1996.
Independent sources say that Russian military casualties occur almost daily, although they are rarely made public by the authorities.
The conflicts have killed about 10,000 Russian soldiers, according to official figures, and 25,000 according to one of Russia's leading rights groups, Soldiers' Mothers. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed.
05/11/2005 13:44 GMT