"Over the last three days about 3,500 fighters have left," Mr. Gantamirov told reporters in the Chechen town of Urus-Martan.

The army said it feared an imminent offensive against major Chechen towns.

The soldiers in Russia's 74th Brigade call the pile of bricks and concrete on the outskirts of this Chechen town "the white wall."

The result is evident at Mr. Kalamanov's office in the Chechen town of Znamenskoye.

Born in 1916 in the Chechen town of Shali (or, according to different data, Argun) Abdurakhmanov became an orphan at an early age.

The air strikes, which took place near the Chechen town of Kenki, were among 19 missile and bomb attacks carried out against rebel positions on Friday.

Russian troops kept their distance as a ragged band of Chechens strolled through the center of this desolate Chechen town.

Prosecutors in the Kremlin-installed Chechen government began an investigation today into a helicopter attack on the outdoor market of a major Chechen town.

A1 In a Chechen town, citizens organize to resist occupation.

The Chechens claimed to still hold more than 60 hostages, having moved them to separatists-controlled Chechen town of Novogrozny.