Moscow, 24 July 2000 (RFE/RL) -- Both sides in the Chechen conflict
are claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on the other.
AFP news agency quotes separatist spokesman Movladi Udugov as saying
Chechen rebels killed 10 Russian soldiers overnight in a series of attacks
in the capital Grozny. Udugov said another 10 Russian troops were killed in
fighting today in the Argun Gorge of southern Chechnya.
The office of the Kremlin's top spokesman for the conflict dismissed
the rebel claims as propaganda. But Russian military officials conceded
that federal positions had come under intensive fire in the last 24
hours.Russian army headquarters for its part said that 59 Chechen fighters
had been killed yesterday during military operations.Both sides in the
conflict regularly exaggerate their opponents' losses. Casualty tolls are
impossible to confirm independently.