Tens of thousands of Russian troops massed at the borders with Chechnya yesterday with the aim of isolating Islamic rebels who have attacked neighbouring Dagestan from bases in Chechnya.
The troop movements came as Russian combat aircraft and artillery continued to pound Chechen villages along the border with Dagestan throughout Saturday night and early on Sunday, according to the Chechen Interior Ministry in Grozny.
The Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, said the measures were aimed at isolating and punishing Chechnya. He did not mention the prospect of a ground attack, saying only that air raids would continue against "Islamist bases."
Islamic extremists from the area are suspected of being behind the wave of bombing attacks that has killed 292 people in Russia since August 31st.
A senior Chechen official, meanwhile, offered to hand over suspects wanted for the bombing campaign if Russia could provide sufficient proof of their identity.
Mr Ilyas Akhmadov, who is in charge of Chechnya's external relations, said he made the offer in a letter to Mr Putin.
As he did so, some 30,000 Russian federal troops with armoured vehicles and artillery gathered on the Dagestani border with Chechnya, the military press service said.
Grozny reacted with alarm to an operation that could be paving the way for the entry of ground troops.
"This is a pure and simple blockade," said a Chechen administration spokesman, Mr Selim Abdumuslimov. "We have given Chechen border guards the order to reinforce controls and not to yield to any provocation they might encounter," he added.
Some 2,000 Chechen soldiers were said to have dug in along along the border in the region of Stavropol as a line of defence against the Russian federal troops.
The sealing of the borders was the latest phase in Moscow's six-week-long campaign to crush Muslim rebel extremists seeking to recreate a 19th century Islamic state in the Caucasus encompassing the Russian republics of Dagestan and Chechnya.
The Chechen Interior Ministry said that while the clashes had driven at least 10,000 people out of the border area, nearly 250 civilians had been killed in the almost nightly bombings. It said around 20 civilians died during Saturday night.
Moscow has denied hitting civilians and insisted it has only bombarded concentrations of rebel troops and bases. An official Russian toll yesterday said 140 insurgents had been killed in the bombing raids during 50 sorties over 24 hours. It was the first time Russian military authorities had announced a death toll.
In Moscow, an explosion apparently caused by a gas canister in an apartment block created a brief panic in the Russian capital, which has suffered two guerrilla bombings in the past two weeks. Witnesses said several of the building's five storeys were damaged, windows were blown out and a ceiling caved in.