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Spent shells on the ground outside the burnt-out publishing house in the centre of Grozny. Photo: AFP

Heavily armed Islamists clash with police in Grozny

Ten officers, nine militants dead in clashes that bring armoured vehicles onto the city's streets

AFP

Fighting between heavily armed Islamists and police in the centre of Chechnya's capital of Grozny yesterday left 10 officers and nine militants dead, officials said.

Militants barricaded themselves in a school and police cordoned off city streets, with the violence erupting just as Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his annual address to the nation, vowing to end violence in Chechnya.

Chechnya's head Ramzan Kadyrov said nine militants were killed after several hours of fighting, with armed personnel carriers dispatched to residential areas and shooting in the streets.

The operation against the gunmen left at least 28 injured, Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies. It said police efforts "liquidated" the group and "thwarted major acts of terror" but that some actions were ongoing.

Putin had pledged to wipe out insurgency in the North Caucasus but violence has continued in Chechnya and nearby regions, with a suicide blast rocking Chechnya in October.

Kadyrov said the militants were planning to stage an attack today but the plan fell through after traffic police stopped them in the early hours of yesterday.

It was unclear how many groups of militants were involved as they later stormed a building called the Press House in central Grozny as well as a school about a kilometre away.

"We have them surrounded in the school area," Kadyrov said on Echo of Moscow radio, adding that the gunmen were "very heavily armed", including with grenade launchers.

An AFP correspondent said a large area in the city centre was closed off by security forces, with automatic fire as well as larger calibre artillery audible.

Authorities said gunmen inside the Press House - which houses the media -were eliminated, as it stood smouldering and gutted from fire.

Speaking in the Kremlin, Putin said he was certain that "local boys, local police, will suitably manage" to bring down the "latest raid by the terrorists".

A video posted by human rights activists of the Committee Against Torture showed two men with automatic weapons firing from a street corner several blocks away from the school.

North Caucasus Islamists, known as the Caucasus Emirate, took responsibility for the raid in a video posted on the website Kavkaz Centre, saying it was revenge for "oppression of Muslim women."

Yesterday's attack marks the first such raid in months by militants in Grozny - which was ravaged by two wars between separatists and the Russian army.

But it comes weeks after five policemen were killed when they stopped a suicide bomber from attacking a hall packed with concert goers.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Heavily armed Islamists clash with police in Grozny
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