Military say no serious clash was at meskety

The military commandant's office of Chechnya has denied the information of some mass media that Russian troops were involved in a serious clash near the Meskety village, saying that such allegations "were exaggerated".

Colonel Selim Tsuyev, deputy military commandant of the Chechen Republic, said on Saturday that according to preliminary data, a 20-strong group of gunmen shot at the local administration building and the district interior department.

Tsuyev categorically denied the allegations that the gunmen had exploded the administration building and captured several policemen. He stressed that the district commandant and a police investigation team were currently on the scene to probe into the incident.

Tsuyev pointed out that no information on casualties was available. "I can state firmly that there was not any serious clash in this area and no warfare was conducted", he said.