The office of separatist Chechen President Mr Aslan Maskhadov said this evening rebels had killed 11 Russian troops and injured another 15 over the previous day.
A Maskhadov spokesman at Russia's border with Chechnya claimed five separatist fighters had been wounded in the violence.
The spokesman said seven of the Russians were killed in the rebel capital Grozny while others died in the republic's southern mountains.
The report could not be independently confirmed.
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Both sides have regularly exaggerated the others' losses while trying to cover up their own through the 18-month war.
AFP