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Chechens down Russian chopper, four killed-report

MOSCOW: Four Russian servicemen were killed when their transport helicopter was shot down in northern Chechnya by separatist rebels, Interfax news agency said on Monday.

It quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying the MI-8 aircraft was brought down on Sunday near the village of Vinogradnoye, about 20 km (12 miles) north of Grozny. "Three members of the crew and one serviceman accompanying a cargo were killed," he added.

The agency gave no further details of the incident which occurred after an announcement of a planned partial withdrawal of Russian forces from the rebel region.

Vinogradnoye is in an area believed to be under strong Russian control.

The spokesman said fighters of separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev had attacked Russian troops in Chechnya at least 21 times since Sunday morning, including 10 times in Grozny.

He said on Sunday the separatists had ambushed an army column in southern Chechnya. One armoured vehicle ran over a mine and was then fired on by rebels.-Reuter