Chechen fighters have killed at least five Russian soldiers and wounded seven in the war-torn southern republic. The soldiers were killed in two separate attacks on Saturday, one inside Grozny and one in the village of Starye Atagi south of the capital, reports said on Sunday. In Grozny, two soldiers were killed and one injured when Chechen fighters opened fire on them in the Staropromyslovsky district, Chechnya's interior ministry told Interfax. In Starye Atagi, a group of 15 fighters killed three soldiers and injured six after opening fire on their living quarters, the interior ministry told RIA Novosti. Two of the fighters were killed by return fire in the attack, it said. **Attacks up*** The fighters in Chechnya usually increase their attacks on pro-Moscow targets in the mountainous republic in spring and summer. Chechens have been fighting Russian forces on and off for much of the past decade. They won the first Russo-Chechen war of 1994-1996, with the republic gaining de facto independence. The Kremlin re-deployed its forces in October 1999 in what it called a lightning-strike, "anti-terrorist" operation. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Russian soldiers were re-deployed in Chechnya in 1999. (Al-Jazeera)