Chechens Start Counterattack

In the first major counterattack since Moscow launched its Chechen offensive, militants on stormed and claimed to retake most of an eastern town, even as Russian forces kept up a relentless assault on the capital of the breakaway republic.

Grozny Mayor Lecha Dudayev said that according to survivors' accounts, more than 260 people died in the Russian bombardment on the capital that began Thursday, but also indicated that the final death toll was likely to be at least twice that number, the Interfax news agency reported.

The estimate could not be independently confirmed, and an accurate death toll is unlikely until after the shelling stops.

The Russian military denied that civilians had been killed, saying that the airstrikes had targeted rebel strongholds, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. The Defense Ministry said its forces had unleashed air and artillery strikes against militants in 35 settlements on Saturday.

The rebels' counterattack began overnight, when fighters under field commander Salman Raduyev showered Grad rockets on Novogroznensky, some 25 miles east of Grozny, and then stormed the small town.

By around midday Saturday, all but the eastern outskirts of Novogroznensky were under control of Chechen fighters, Raduyev said.

"We met with harsh resistance by the Russians, but with the help of Allah, who is leading us to victory, we have taken this town," Raduyev told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

There was heavy fighting throughout the day, and the western section of Novogroznensky was in flames. Four Russian helicopters hovered overhead, and Russian planes dropped bombs on rebel positions.

Raduyev said his fighters had taken 18 Russian soldiers prisoner. The number of casualties was unknown, and Russian military officials could not be reached for comment.

The attack came a day after another leading Chechen commander, Shamil Basayev, threatened a punishing counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Since the start of the Chechen campaign, Russian forces have relied heavily on air and artillery strikes, trying to avoid the kind of ground and street battles that exacted heavy losses among their troops during the last Chechen war, in 1994-96.

For their part, the rebels have withdrawn from a number of settlements in the face of the massive Russian strikes, and have depended on surprise ambushes of Russian troops.

Basayev told Grozny television that the war was about to shift into terrain where the Russians will be more vulnerable, saying that the time for ground battles "has already come."

Meanwhile, Russian planes and rocket launchers continued pounding Grozny on Saturday.

The Russian military said hardly any residences remained intact after the assault that began Thursday. Even if buildings have not collapsed, their roofs have been torn off, and windows and doors shattered.

In the northern outskirts of Grozy, bombs took out six homes with adjacent cattle sheds. Eight dead cows were lying in the rubble Saturday.

"It looks like Russian pilots consider not only civilians to be terrorists' accomplices, but cattle as well," said Yagulbi Khadayev, an 84-year-old man whose home and six cows were destroyed.

In a southern neighborhood, four bombs were dropped near a mosque, around which Muslim faithful had gathered during the raid. Eyewitnesses said seven people were killed by blasts, which also shattered the mosque's windows.

Russian planes and artillery bombed the outskirts of Argun, a town nine miles east of Grozny, ITAR-Tass reported. Refugees said Russian forces had also bombed and shelled the town of Avtury, some 12 miles southeast of Grozny, and the eastern village of Benoi overnight. Three people were reported killed and at least 12 others were wounded.

About 1,950 people most of them from Grozny have fled Chechnya for the neighboring region of Ingushetia since Friday, Ingush Interior Minister Khamzat Gutseriyev said.

Cars carrying refugees formed a six-mile line at a border checkpoint with Ingushetia on Saturday, Interfax reported.

Russia launched its air assault on Chechen rebels in August and began a ground assault on the republic in September. Moscow's stated aim was to wipe out Islamic rebels who twice invaded the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan this summer. Russia has also blamed the rebels for apartment bombings that killed 300 people in several Russian cities.