Many rebel fighters are reported to have stopped in the villages on their way from the capital, Grozny, to fortified bases in the southern mountains.

The Russians said they attacked and destroyed a convoy of 15 trucks leaving the village of Gekhi-Chu, 25km (15 miles) south-west of the capital.

The Russians have been keeping up the pressure on the fleeing rebels, with helicopters flying 60 missions into the Argun and Vedeno gorges in the past 24 hours, the main routes into the mountains.

On the ground, Chechen sources said Russian troops launched a heavy attack on Duba-Yurt, a village at the entrance to the Argun gorge.

The casualty figures can not be independently verified.

Chechen resistance

The attacks come after Mr Putin announced on Sunday that the military operation in Grozny had come to an end.

According to Interfax, Moscow has pulled 150 troops and four armoured vehicles from combat operations in Chechnya.

But the Chechens have insisted that the war is far from over. They have threatened to launch guerrilla attacks from their mountain bases.

The Chechen leader, Aslan Maskhadov, vowed to retake Grozny.

Click here to see a map of Chechen movements

"For the time being, we have given up the city. We will take it back at a later date," Mr Maskhadov said in an interview in the Spanish daily La Vanguardia.

He said the bulk of his forces had left the city in two groups: one of 2,000 fighters that got out safely, and another of at least 300 that ran into a minefield. He did not specify how many casualties the second group suffered.

Reports of atrocities

There have been more reports of Russian soldiers killing civilians in Grozny.

The women had caught the soldiers stealing mattresses from an apartment building.

Her companions were killed instantly, but she was hit in the shoulder and pretended to be dead while the soldiers ripped her earrings off.

The New York based Human Rights Watch group has documented eight incidents in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny, in which 22 civilians were killed by Russian troops.

"A disturbing number of civilians have been murdered by Russian troops in Grozny," said researcher Peter Bouckaert. He accused Russian commanders of turning a blind eye to the killings.

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