Russian clamp on Chechnya

The Russians warn that unauthorised traffic will be attacked

The Russian army is imposing an indefinite 10-hour curfew over the whole of Chechnya from Tuesday night.

The curfew will last from 2100 (1700 GMT) to 0700 (0300 GMT). The army says any unauthorised vehicle seen moving on the roads would be shot at without warning.

Russian troops have already moved to seal off large parts of Chechnya and re-inforcements are reported to be on their way to the trouble spots.

The measures come after a wave of suicide bombings on Russian military targets in four Chechen towns over the past two days which killed at least 40 people

Checkpoint duty is highly dangerous

Troops have been deployed in three of the Russian republic's largest cities and the capital, Grozny, in what officials said was a mopping up operation in an attempt to catch the bombers.

A day after the bombing, Russian police say they defused a bomb which was planted in a government building in the capital.

Eighteen people have reportedly been arrested in connection with the bombings.

But Chechen rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov has warned that the attacks will continue

In an interview with the French news agency, AFP he said: "We have two battalions numbering some 500 suicide bombers who are fully prepared and awaiting orders to carry out operations within Chechnya and throughout the rest of Russia."

The head of the Chechen Council, Malik Saidulayev, told commercial television that they supported the rebels actions.

Mr Saidulayev said: "This is war. These are not terrorists - these are people who are giving their lives to show that there is no peace in Chechnya."

Security lapse

Russian commanders are partly blaming their own troops for lax security which led to one attack, saying two checkpoints failed to stop a speeding suicide bomber who blew up a police hostel in the town of Argun with a truck full of explosives. Twenty-five people died in the attack.

The Russian military commander in Chechnya, Colonel-General Gennadiy Troshev, said troops in Argun had ignored his warnings about security.

Unconfirmed reports said that the lorry used in the Argun attack had been fired on after passing a nearby checkpoint, and that the driver was killed before the explosives detonated.

Eyewitnesses reported the lorry then hitting the gate of the police hostel in Argun at high speed and exploding.

The rebels are demanding that the Russians hand over Colonel Yuri Budanov, arrested in March for murdering a Chechen woman.

They also want some 450 Chechen women and children allegedly held in Russian jails to be released.