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EASTERN CHECHNYA, May 14 (AFP)-Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov on Sunday put civilian losses in the Russian crackdown in Chechnya at over 40,000 dead. "During the eight months of the current war, civilian deaths are more than 40,000. Military losses are more than 1,500," said Maskhadov in a secret location in the east of the Islamic republic. "In the first war, from 1994-96, around 120,000 civilians were killed and 2,870 fighters," he said. That conflict ended in a humiliating pullout by demoralized Russian forces, which left Chechnya largely in ruins but with de facto independence. Russian troops returned in force on October 1 when Moscow poured men and armour into the Chechens province, ostensibly to crush "bandits" and "Islamic fundamentalists" based there. Moscow used two bloody incursions into southern Russia last summer and a wave of apartment bomb attacks which killed 292 civilians to justify the campaign, which has earned Russia sharp rebukes from Western states over widespread reports of human rights abuses. Despite heavy losses among government troops, the crackdown retains strong public support, the report added. |
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