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Rebels attack Russians & Russians shell Chechen mountains

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November 15, 2000 

NAZRAN, Russia-- (AP) - Chechen rebels staged 30 attacks on Russian military convoys, checkpoints and offices, killing at least nine servicemen in the past 24 hours, while Russian helicopters strafed suspected rebel hide-outs, an official said Tuesday.

In one incident, militants opened fire on an armored personnel carrier moving through the capital Grozny on Monday, wounding three servicemen who had been riding atop the vehicle, said an official with the Russian-backed Chechen administration. Soldiers often ride on top of the carriers because from there it is easier to escape land mine explosions, which are routine.

The attack was among 30 over the past 24 hours that hit nearly every district of the breakaway republic, the official said, on condition of anonymity.

Such rebel attacks occur daily, steadily increasing the Russian casualty toll in the year-old war. But they are scattered, conducted by fractured rebel groups - which a Chechen commander claimed Tuesday the militants are trying to change.

The rebels will better coordinate their guerrilla actions as winter descends on the mountainous republic, said Naib, a Chechen commander who goes by one name, in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We are ready for winter diversions of our guerrilla campaign," he said. "It will be under one authority, and more effective."

Prospects for such a united rebel front were unclear, as divisions have long split the Chechen command.

Meanwhile, Russian forces arrested 12 people Monday and Tuesday in a sweep for rebels in the eastern Vedeno region and the Achkoi-Martan and Urus-Martan districts of central Chechnya, the official said.

Russian helicopters on Tuesday pounded Vedeno and the Itum-Kale region in the south, and Russian artillery shelled the Itum-Kale, Vedeno, Nozhai-Yurt and Urus-Martan regions.