Rebel attacks, land mines kill 10 in Chechnya

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia -- Chechen rebel attacks and land mines killed 10 soldiers and police, an official in the pro-Moscow Chechen administration said Friday.

Four Russian soldiers were killed by mines --two in the Chechen capital Grozny and two in the Vedeno district, said the official on condition of anonymity. Three other soldiers died in a rebel attack. The attacks were in the last 24 hours.

In the southern village of Dyshne-Vedeno, rebels ambushed a squad of police, killing three and wounding four. The rebels escaped unharmed, the official said.

Separately, two high-ranking Russian officers are facing new charges in connection with a deadly friendly fire incident between Russian units in Chechnya, the Interfax news agency said Friday.

Maj. Gen. Boris Fadeyev, a former top official in the Chechnya military command, and Col. Mikhail Levchenko, a former Interior Ministry official in Chechnya, have been charged with negligence, Interfax reported.

Both officers were acquitted last year of negligent homicide in connection with the incident, but Chechnya's Supreme Court overturned their acquittal and ordered an additional investigation.

Twenty-two servicemen were killed and 54 wounded during the March 2000 shootout, which the Russian military initially insisted had been an assault by Chechen rebels. Prosecutors later determined that Russian troops had mistakenly opened fire on a fellow unit.