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Posted on 09/29/2001 10:05:27 AM PDT by oxi-nato

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rebels said they had seized control of towns and major roads in Chechnya on Saturday in their first coordinated attacks since Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for disarmament and talks. Russian officials, quoted by news agencies, acknowledged widespread clashes and a number of deaths. But accounts of the fighting and the extent of casualties differed widely.

Putin issued his appeal on Monday, giving the rebels 72 hours to start discussing disarmament with Moscow. Russian officials acknowledged contacts with rebels had been made this week but with little apparent effect on events. Putin and other officials link separatists in mainly Muslim Chechnya to a "terrorist international" and specifically to Osama bin Laden, named as America's prime suspect in this month's attacks in New York and Washington.

Interfax news agency said rebels had advanced on Shali, opening fire on the military commander's office, administrative building and police headquarters and setting fire to the court house. It said four people were killed before they withdrew at dawn, taking a number of dead and wounded with them. Agencies reported a four-hour battle at a police station in Kurchaloi, further east, with three officers killed and 14 wounded. An administrative building in the nearby town of Serzhen-Yurt had also been set on fire.

A spokeswoman for Sergei Yastrzhembsky, chief Kremlin spokesman on Chechnya, said groups of about 10 fighters had attacked Shali and Kurchaloi. Casualties were being checked. "Federal (Russian) forces opened fire and the groups of fighters were dispersed," the spokeswoman said. "The situation in (Chechnya) is generally calm."

REBEL SPOKESMAN SAYS FIGHTING CONTINUES Rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov, speaking by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location, said he believed more than 2,000 fighters were involved in the operation launched at midnight and that up to 250 Russian servicemen had been killed. "Fighting is continuing in Shali, Argun and Avtury and Stariye and Noviye Atagi, which are all under the control of Chechen forces. Shooting is intensifying," Udugov said, referring to towns in mountainous areas southeast of Chechnya's devastated capital Grozny.

He quoted accounts from Arab-born Khattab, a senior rebel commander, as saying 25 fighting units were taking part in the operation, with major routes now under their control. "The Russians tried twice to send big convoys to help from their base in Khankala. These were beaten back," he said. Udugov described the new assaults as "the answer to Putin's ultimatum."

Russia has secured control over Chechen territory since launching its second major offensive in the region in 1999. But its troops still face attacks and ambushes undermining attempts to portray a resumption of normal civilian life. Though there was little change in the military situation, Putin's envoy in southern Russia said on Friday he had held informal contacts with a representative of the separatist side.

Aslan Maskhadov, elected separatist president of Chechnya, said in an interview published by Kommersant newspaper that the contacts were meant to "find points in common on key issues of our relations" but not for concrete decisions. He said he had received no guarantees to justify rebels giving up their arms. Ahmad Kadyrov, Chechnya's Moscow-appointed administrator, told a news conference that no talks could be conducted with Maskhadov as "he had covered himself in too much blood." On Friday, Maskhadov described Putin's statement as "an important step" in finding a peaceful solution in Chechnya.

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