41.   The prosecution has pinned the blame for the friendly fire massacre on a unit of elite interior ministry OMON troops from Podolsk in the Moscow region.

42.   The source, quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency, said the Russian interior ministry troops hit the mine near the town of Khassaviurt.

43.   The storming of the legislature sparked an intervention by interior ministry troops, watched by several thousand onlookers.

44.   The spokesman said rebels carried out nine attacks on interior ministry troops Thursday in Grozny and other parts of Chechnya.

45.   The Ukrainian spokesman said meanwhile that the only movement of interior ministry troops was to cover a recent gangland crime wave sweeping the Crimean peninsula.

46.   The toll did not include rebels nor regular defence ministry troops.

47.   The victims of the blast included members of the OMON special forces, interior ministry troops, and staff of the counter-intelligence service.

48.   Those who really wanted to fight were offered the opportunity to sign a contract of engagement with the Russian army or with interior ministry troops.

49.   Thousands of interior ministry troops are deployed in Chechnya.

50.   Three interior ministry troops died on the way to hospital after their water truck exploded on a landmine in Grozny, the command said.