MOSCOW, JANUARY 5: More than 300 Chechen rebels died in the past three days in the ongoing fighting with Russian troops and pro-Moscow volunteers, Novosti reports.Rebel military camps, arms depots and bases in Grozny and high mountains were razed to the ground as a result of relentless air strikes by Moscow.Though Kremlin troops and the local militia assisting them have been carrying out operations now for more than two weeks to take over control of Grozny, the central parts of the city being defended by the rebels and foreign mercenaries continue to put up determined resistance.The advance of the Kremlin forces has slowed down as a result of the use of chemical weapons which have spread poisonous clouds all around, reports said.Meanwhile, acting President Vladimir Putin has described Chechnya as a `black mark' on the map of Russia. Frantic efforts are being made to push out the rebel forces from there and put in order the Chechen economy, his aide said here on Tuesday.A spokesman of themilitary command in Caucasus said they aim at trapping the fleeing rebels in the mountains and finish them there, so that they were not able to carry out their guerilla warfare.The head of the Moscow-based pro-Kremlin Chechen government Malik Saidullalov said on Tuesday that he expected some four thousand hardcore militants to severe their relations with the rebel president Aslan Maskhadov and surrender to the federal troops and local militia armed and equipped by Kremlin, according to a late night broadcast of `Voice of Russia'.The rebels have already informed Kremlin of their intention and have asked for amnesty in return. They will fight on the side of the centre to put and end to separatism, Moscow radio said.
