Russians confirm officers killed in Chechnya

Russian officials have confirmed that two soldiers who went missing in Chechnya a week ago have been found beheaded.

The severed heads of Valery Zakharshenko and Vladimir Barankin, both senior officers, were recovered in the Vedeno region of south-eastern Chechnya.

A spokesman for the Chechen leader, Aslan Mashkhadov, was quoted as saying that Chechen separatist forces had no knowledge of the officers, and the beheadings could have been carried out by bandits or Russian soldiers.

Several hostages and Russian servicemen have been beheaded in recent years. In 1998 four engineers from Britain and New Zealand were beheaded after being held hostage.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service