Russian forces in Chechnya have recently come under mounting attacks by independence seekers

MOSCOW, August 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Six Russian soldiers were killed and five others were injured Friday, August 15,in two separate attacks by Chechen independence fighters.

Five soldiers were killed after their armored vehicle ran over a remote-controlled bomb in southern Chechnya, reported Interfax news agency.

After the explosion, Chechen fighters opened fire on the vehicle, wounding five other soldiers, the news agency reported.

Another soldier was killed after gunmen opened fire on Russian positions in the capital of Grozny, Interfax reported.

And three independence fighters died after a shootout with Russian forces in the southwest of the republic, a military source told the news agency.

Chechen independence seekers have recently stepped up their attacks on the Russian occupation forces in the republic, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The attacks repudiate Moscow's argument that the military phase of the war, Chechnya's second since the fall of the Soviet Union, is over.

On Friday, August 8, seven Russian servicemen were killed and at least nine others injured in two separate attacks in Chechnya and near its borders with Ingushetia.

Some 50 Russian servicemen and medics were killed and 78 injured Friday when a man rammed a truck packed with explosives through the gates of a military hospital stationed in the neighboring republic of North Ossetia.

A respected Russian group estimated that more than 12,000 soldiers have died in the nearly four-year invasion in Chechnya, almost triple the officially disclosed figure.

The Soldiers' Mothers Committee rights group said the figures included soldiers who died on their way to a hospital or from injuries at a later date -- deaths that are not officially registered by the authorities.