7 Russian Soldiers Killed, 9 Wounded

Police were combing the nearby forests for the attackers, who managed to escape the scene, the officials were quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

It was not immediately clear whether the attackers were Chechen independence fighters who engage Russian troops on almost daily basis despite Moscow’s claims the situation in Chechnya was coming under control.

The Russian military has been targeted in Ingushetia before. Five soldiers were killed when their convoy hit a mine last week.

Helicopter Downed

Also Thursday, a Russian Mi-8 military helicopter was shot down in Chechnya, killing one crew member and injuring two others, the Interfax news agency reported quoting military officials.

It was originally thought all three crew members had died instantly, but two men have now been rescued and evacuated to hospital with serious injuries.

Immediately after the crash a spokesman said the helicopter had been shot down by a shoulder-fired missile.

The helicopter was hit as it was landing troops in a wooded mountain area near the village of Dyshne-Vedeno in the southeast Chechnya, the spokesman for the Russian federal army headquarters said.

"It was hit by a missile fired from the ground," he said, adding that the troops had already left the helicopter when the missile hit, leaving just the crew aboard.

But the Russian military now suggest the crew may simply have crashed in poor weather, the BBC NewsOnline reported.

Russian military helicopters have regularly been the target of attacks by Chechen independence fighters since 1999.

Some 50 Russian servicemen and medics were killed and 78 injured Friday when a man rammed a truck packed with explosives through the gates of a military hospital stationed in the neighboring republic of North Ossetia.