Two Chechen Attacks Kill Six Russians, Wound Five

The number of Russian military and civilian victims, thus, reaches 27 dead and 75 injured since the beginning of this month, according to statistics prepared by IslamOnline.net, quoting its correspondents and sources in Moscow.

Three Russian soldiers were killed and three others injured early Saturday when a landmine exploded in the mountainous southwest of the republic, the Interfax news agency quoted police sources as saying.

Chechen fighter elements are expected to be behind the planting of the landmine. The three died instantly in the blast at the village of Benoi-Vedeno where federal forces were carrying out an inspection, police said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The injured were instantly moved to the hospital at Khankala, headquarters of Russian armed forces in Chechnya.

In another separate incident, three Russian sappers were killed in a bomb attack near the village of Alkhan-Kala, 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the capital Grozny, also Saturday, ITAR-TASS reported, citing Chechen police.

Two Russian policemen were wounded in the incident in which rebel gunfire also hurt two bystanders, the news agency said.