Russian troops block entry into Chechnya

quot;They8217;re not letting anybody pass. It8217;s completely blocked off. They said they would shoot if I didn8217;t go back,quot; Tosuyev said by telephone from the new road block, just inside Chechen territory, near the western Chechen village of Assinovskaya.

He said helicopters were circling above the new Russian positions, but he had seen no fire from the aircraft.

The main highway linking Chechnya and neighbouring Ingushetia had remained open despite a month-long Russian advance on the breakaway region. Some 160,000 refugeeshave fled along this route. They were confined to Ingushetia itself by road blocks around that province.

Russian troops bombed and shelled villages along the Chechen-Ingush frontier overnight. Meanwhile, the United States called on leaders in Russia and Chechnya to quot;urgentlyquot; begin a political dialogue amid rising concerns about peace prospects for the breakaway republic, an AFP report from Washington has said. quot;The crisis in the north Caucasus has clearly worsened, especially with yesterday8217;s shocking violence in Grozny,quot; the Chechen capital, acting US Secretary of State Strobe Talbott said Friday.

quot;The increasing loss of civilian life further jeopardizes the security and stability of the region,quot; Talbott said in a statement. And increased violence in Chechnya quot;has raised concern in the United States and elsewhere about prospects for a peaceful settlement of the conflict,quot; he added.

Talbott also warned that Moscow8217;s struggle to develop could be tainted by a backlash against Russian citizens because oftheir ethnicity or religion.

The US added it was looking into quot;conflicting reportsquot; from Russia about a bloody assault on civilians in Grozny. quot;We have raised our concerns repeatedly in the last months about the escalation and it is certainly troubling to see this kind of loss of life,quot; White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said when asked if the attack had heightened US fears.

On Thursday a missile attack on a market in Grozny killed at least 137 people, the bloodiest assault on Chechnya since the 1994-96 war.

The Russian mililtary first acknowledged a quot;special operationquot; had been conducted in Chechnya to liquidate a suspected quot;terrorist arms bazaar,quot; but Premier Vladimir Putin then backed off any link to the carnage.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed quot;strong hopequot; that special care would be taken to avoid innocent civilians casualties in the quot;current conflict in northern Caucasusquot; region of Russia, reports PTI.

Annan has read with quot;great concernquot; reports of recent developmentthere and hopes that provisions of humanitarian law in armed conflict are respected, his spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

The Secretary-General in his statement, however did not mention the name of Chechnya or blamed anyone on this issue.

Briefing reporters, Eckhard did not go beyond the statement which followed reports that more than 100 people might have been killed in the Chechan capital Grozny by rockets which hit a market and a maternity ward.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR quoted authorities in neighbouring Ingush as saying more than 160,000 people have been uprooted by the Russian military crackdown in Chechnya. The Ingush authorities fear that as many as 300,000 people will pour into Ingushetia if the Russian military push continues.