MOSCOW (AFP)-Russian troops on Friday clashed with Chechen fighters close to the scene of a deadly ambush by Muslim fighters in the republic's southeastern mountains two days ago, military officials said.

A force of between 350 and 500 mujahideen was dug into fortified positions on strategic heights near the village of Dargo and continued to resist Russian attacks, the AVN military news agency cited defense sources as saying.

Russian forces continued to search Friday morning for dozens of missing soldiers caught in the Chechen ambush 48 hours before.

Generals said a column of 49 Interior Ministry troops was surrounded Wednesday by a 150-strong contingent of fighters while a Russian back-up team was beaten back.

Updating the death toll on Friday, Kremlin spokesperson on Chechnya Sergei Yastrzhembsky told Interfax that only six Russian soldiers had been rescued while four are known to have been killed. Yastrzhembsky said 39 soldiers remained missing in action.

On Thursday, the Russian commander in Chechnya, General Alexander Baranov, said that 18 troops had been rescued, six of whom were then sent to hospital for treatment.

Baranov had said that 27 Interior Ministry troops remained unaccounted for. The ambushes marked the fourth major Chechen counter-attack in the past month. They also served as a stern warning to the Kremlin that rebels intend to fight a brutal partisan war similar to one waged in a 1994-96 conflict that left the republic with de facto independence.

Over the last 24 hours, Russian paratroopers backed up by artillery and air strikes killed up to 40 Muslim fighters, military officials said.

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