Chechen civilians say that Russian soldiers went on a looting spree and carried out summary executions during the operation to take the capital, Grozny.

The Human Rights Watch organisation says it has been given the names of 36 people killed in the Staropromyslovsky district of the Chechen capital and has witness statements and even survivor accounts to substantiate the allegations.

The Russian army's operation to take Grozny should have been the end of an ordeal for the city's besieged population.

One woman who is now recovering in hospital told me that she was hiding in a cellar there with five other people, who were all shot at point-blank range after Russian soldiers began looting. She survived by playing dead.

Another woman was arrested with two of her neighbours when they saw troops carrying stolen goods to an armoured vehicle:

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"My neighbour and I were clutching each other's hands," she said. The third woman said 'take whatever you want, we have children, just don't kill us.' They made us go into one little room.

"They just shot her in the head. She didn't even have time to say let me go - they just shot her ..."

One family said they had lost a mother and son killed together.

They produced bloodstained clothing full of holes which they said were evidence that a knife had been used.

These are allegations, but the Human Rights Watch organisation says it has more than a dozen similar accounts from people in this part of Grozny.

The reports come at a time when the Russian army is continuing to pursue Chechen rebels into the countryside southwest of Grozny.

Military sources and displaced people say 50 separatist fighters and many civilians have been killed.

The Russians suspect the villages are harbouring some of the 3,000 rebels who have broken through the blockade of the capital since Monday.

They aim to prevent the rebels from reaching mountain strongholds to the south, where thousands of their comrades are concentrated.

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