Moscow- Russian special forces killed at least 20 suspected Islamist resistance fighters Friday in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, the Interfax agency reported. A rebel position in the mountains was fired on by Russian attack helicopters, Chechnyan President Ramzan Kadyrov told the agency, describing an operation which he said had produced an "exceptionally good result."
Kadyrov, who this week was promoted to the rank of major general by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, had led the operation.
Among those killed was a leading rebel figure, said Kadyrov.
The attack was one of the bloodiest clashes between the two sides of late, with experts saying that violence in the region is getting ever more out of control. Criminal groups, Islamists, and Russian security forces are engaged in ongoing combat.
In the neighbouring semi-autonomous republic of Dagestan, three women were killed in a bomb attack while mourning at the grave of their murdered loved one, a police officer, on Friday.
The resistance fighters aim for an independent Caucasus emirate. Medvedev gave the Chechnyan special forces permission to carry out anti-terror operations in the entire North Caucasus region.
The special forces can therefore now be deployed in regions of southern Russia that do not border on Chechnya.
