21.   On Tuesday Russia placed its troops near the Chechen border on a higher state of alert as tension in the mountainous republic mounted.

22.   Russia has denied this, but on Tuesday placed its troops near the Chechen border on a higher state of alert as tension in the mountainous republic mounted.

23.   Russian forces still control only the capital Grozny and the north of the mountainous republic, and are vulnerable to attack throughout the south.

24.   The murders took to six the total number of Russian soldiers killed in the mountainous former Soviet republic over the past week.