11.   Commandos searching for rebels in the forest Sunday found and defused several mines laid by the retreating militants, the military said.

12.   Dozens of police officers surrounded the monument and bomb experts defused the mines, according to officers at the scene.

13.   Meanwhile, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported a mine was defused in the center of Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, on Wednesday.

14.   Rebels reportedly were mining the entrances to the village of Bamut, while Russian sappers defused remote control mines in the Shali district of the republic, Interfax said.

15.   The dead included three sappers killed while trying to defuse mines.

16.   The mines were defused by authorities.

17.   Two sappers were killed trying to defuse another mine.

18.   Troops found and defused three mines, ITAR-Tass said.

19.   Two Russian sappers were killed while defusing mines.

20.   Despite earlier reports that the men had been defusing a mine, Fohmann said it was not clear what had happened.