Russian troops stormed a key Chechen rebel stronghold yesterday and set their sights on the separatist republic's capital, Grozny, as commanders opened the "second stage" of their push into Chechnya.
"We have lost at least five armoured vehicles. We recently tried to approach [the stronghold] but came under fire. There are many casualties," one Russian defence ministry officer outside Bamut in western Chechnya said. Some 170,000 people have fled the bombardment so far.
The site of intense battles for much of this week, Goragorsky fell into Russian hands almost without any fighting as outnumbered Chechen rebels retreated towards the capital shortly before the federal troops moved in from all sides.
Soldiers at Goragorsky, set at the foot of high ground which dominates the main road to Grozny, said they had orders to march on Dolinsky, 15km east of Grozny, once the former stronghold had been checked for rebels.
"This operation requires lots of grenades because gunmen may be hiding in basements. It is better for everyone to walk out on to the streets once we move in," an officer named Gennady said.
"Right now we are being ordered to move on to Grozny," another officer named Boris added. "There is really nothing left now between Grozny and here."
The mass offensive is the first into Chechnya since Russia retreated in humiliating defeat after waging a 1994-96 war that saw the republic achieve de facto independence at the price of some 80,000 dead, mostly civilians.
In Russia's main military base in Mozdok, North Ossetia, Gen Viktor Kazantsev, commander of Russia's operation in Chechnya, reported that 47 federal troops had been killed so far and warned his troops would take no quarter in the future.