Five Russian soldiers wounded in Chechnya over 24 hours

The reconnaissance chief of a Russian Interior Ministry unit was wounded on Wednesday when an armoured personnel carrier was blown up on a highway in the Staropromyslovsky district of the Chechen capital Grozny, reported a source in the headquarters of the Russian United Federal Troops in the North Caucasus. The explosion, which was caused by a radio-controlled landmine planted on the side of the road, also wounded a private from the same unit.

In a separate development near the village of Braguny, militants attacked a reconnaissance party from another Interior Ministry unit with automatic weapons, wounding an officer and a private.

Besides, an unidentified explosive device went off when a Defence Ministry unit conducted a search through Chechnya's Shatoi district, wounding the reconnaissance platoon commander.