Four Russian soldiers and a Chechen police officer from the pro-Russian force have been killed in Chechnya.

An official from the Chechen administration, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told AFP today that the deaths all came in the last 24 hours.

He said one soldier was killed in an attack by resistance fighters. Two more soldiers died when their troop carrier was blown up by a mine, and another soldier was killed when his military jeep ran over a landmine.

In the capital Grozny, a police officer was killed and three injured in another landmine explosion.

None of the attacks were reported by Chechen authorities, the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian news agencies, or Russian television.

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