Dozens of mined corpses discovered near Chechen capital

Chechen prosecutor opens criminal case following a discovery of a large number of corpses with traces of torture on the outskirts of the Chechen capital Grozny. The retrieval of the corpses is hampered by the fact that the bulk of them appear to have been mined. The Chechen Prosecutor's Office launched on Sunday a criminal case following the discovery. Chief Chechen Administrator Akhmad Kadyrov has decided to take the investigation of the case under his personal control, Rudnik Dudayev, secretary of the Chechen Security Council, is quoted by Interfax as saying. Mr. Dudayev declined to give the exact number of the found remains. At the same time, he did not deny that scores of bodies might have been discovered. According to one of the leads, the bodies may belong to militants killed by a rival bandit group, a source in the federal troops says.