51.   Rabbani leads the very forces that battled Soviet forces and finally defeated them.

52.   Rebels in the mostly Christian and animist south are battling government forces from the predominantly Muslim and Arab north for control of southern Sudan.

53.   Roa said several brigades of fighters from the rightist United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia arrived in the area and battled FARC forces until Thursday afternoon.

54.   Russia in recent weeks has stepped up its border patrols in the regions surrounding Chechnya, the breakaway republic that has been battling Russian forces since December.

55.   Russian jets blasted the Chechen capital with rockets early Monday and troops approaching the city battled separatist forces in heavy fighting, a news agency reported.

56.   Russian troops have been battling rebel forces there since last year.

57.   Sixteen candidates are running for president, and all the leading contenders favor independence for Chechnya, where separatist guerrillas battled Russian forces for almost two years.

58.   Shutters have remained drawn on shops lining the hot and humid streets of this Congo River town where rebels swept in this week after battling government forces.

59.   Separatist fighters also battled pro-Russian forces in a suburb of the capital, Grozny, overnight.

60.   Serbs battled government forces on three fronts and grounded the U.N. airlift to Sarajevo for another day Thursday.