Russians `torturing Chechens'

Moscow - Russian troops are rounding up hundreds of men in Chechen villages and beating and torturing many of them, an international human rights watchdog said yesterday. Human Rights Watch said swoops in villages in the west of Chechnya had sent a new wave of refugees fleeing the rebel region for the neighbouring province of Ingushetia, already home to tens of thousands who fled during 21 months of fighting.