Russia is sending envoys to leading Islamic states to explain its offensive in Chechnya as a heavy night of bombing left 32 civilians dead in villages throughout the breakaway republic.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, will send emissaries to Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Islamic countries, according to a foreign ministry source.
"Understanding and support from the Islamic states are extremely important for Russia in its struggle against the extremists," the official, who was not named, said.
Iran last Tuesday urged Russia to end its military action while other Islamic countries have been concerned about the escalating military offensive.
Fighting over the past 10 days in Chechnya - the worst since the 1994-1996 war - has driven more than 150,000 people out of the republic, mainly to the neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia. Moscow's forces now control roughly the northern third of Chechnya.
Russian warplanes killed 32 civilians in strikes on Chechen positions overnight in the heaviest bombing in recent days, according to a spokesman for the Chechen presidency's crisis unit in Grozny.
Four Russian missiles launched overnight near Urus-Martan in south-west Chechnya killed 13 people, injured 40 and destroyed more than 100 houses, according to the crisis unit.
Bombing raids over the village of Verkhny-Naur in the Naursky region north-west of the Terek river killed 11, said Chechen officials.
Near Vedeno, the home base of the Chechen guerrilla leader, Mr Shamil Basayev, eight people died in bombing raids on three villages.
Mr Ivanov on Saturday admitted the air raids launched more than a month ago had inflicted civilian casualties - the first such admission by Russian officials.
But the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, vowed to press on with the ground offensive, in an interview with ORT public television on Saturday.
Russia sent forces into Chechnya on October 1st to create a "security zone" in the north to prevent rebels from staging attacks on targets in neighbouring areas.
Moscow accuses Chechnya of harbouring Islamic guerrillas it says are responsible both for the recent incursions into Dagestan and for terrorist attacks in Russia.
The German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, yesterday also urged Russia to spare Chechen civilians. After a telephone conversation with Mr Ivanov, he said "human rights and humanitarian ground rules must be strictly observed". Mr Fischer and Mr Ivanov are due to meet for talks next Thursday in St Petersburg.
Chechen sources reported that 460 Russian soldiers had been killed in clashes on Friday and Saturday in Chechnya. The Russian Defence Ministry contested the figures, saying seven Russian soldiers died while 37 were injured. The death tolls remained impossible to confirm.