on-don, Russia, May 14, SPA -- Two Moscow-backed Chechen policemen died during a major offensive against rebels in the mountainous east of Chechnya, a top Russian military spokesman said on Saturday. The two were killed and three other policemen injured when they came under attack from a guerrilla group in a forest on Friday, said Maj. Gen. Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus region. Two rebels died in the ensuing clash, he said. Russian news agencies had reported Friday that six rebels were killed in the operation, which was being conducted in the east of the breakaway province near the border with the Russian region of Dagestan.
