The Kremlin says that Russian forces have launched an air and artillery offensive against thousands of Islamic insurgents in the southern republic of Dagestan. The Russians say that the insurgents, who have taken over several villages, crossed over from Chechnya.
The Russian Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, has gone to the mountainous Baatlik area to supervise the operation. Most civilians living in the vicinity have fled to nearby towns. The fighting follows two weeks of confrontation between Russian forces and Islamic militants. Prime Minister Stepashin played a major role as head of domestic intelligence during the war in Chechnya in 1994.
Some 600 Russian troops in the Botlikhsky area fought at least 2000 rebels armed with automatic weapons grenade launchers and military vehicles. Several hundred militants are reported to have crossed over the border from neighbouring Chechnya. There are no immediate reports of casualties in the fighting, which is one of the worst outbreaks of violence along Dagestan's border with Chechnya since the end of the Chechen war in August 1996.
The clashes follow two weeks of conflict between Russian forces and Islamic militants. Chechnya's official representative in Moscow, Mayerbek Vachagayev, said that they had had "no contact of any sort" with the insurgents, and said that it was an internal Russian affair.
