Hostages freed in Russian gunfight
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Russian troops are in frequent exchanges with Chechen rebels.
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Eleven hostages taken by rebels from Chechnya in two Dagestani villages have been freed and at least six of the rebels killed, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told Russian news services.
Seven other rebels were reportedly killed in a separate incident.
"At the current time, we have an organized pursuit to find the remaining criminals," Ivanov said Tuesday.
At least three groups of rebels crossed into the Russian region of Dagestan just before dawn Tuesday, according to Sergei Livantsov, a spokesman for the Russian border guard service. Livantsov said the guards detected one group but were ambushed when they went to intercept them.
Nine border guards were killed, he said.
The well-armed rebels then seized a hospital in the remote Dagestani village of Shaury, located 25 miles (40 km) from the nearest town. At the time, the rebels were believed to be heading to the neighboring country of Georgia, just eight miles (15 km) away.
Livantsov said the rebels took four people hostage at the hospital, including the chief doctor, and left the village, breaking into three smaller groups.
Later in the morning, a local police official said a reconnaissance helicopter had spotted the largest of the split groups -- about 15 rebels -- in the outskirts of a tiny remote village, wearing winter camouflage.
The rebels, with the four hostages in tow, entered the village and took its nine residents hostage, later letting a woman and her child go free.
With their 11 hostages, the rebels were in the village when Russian troops surrounded it and eventually engaged them.
"Six of the criminals were eliminated," Ivanov said. "From the reports on the ground, all of the hostages were released."
Ivanov said Russia had deployed "plenty of forces" to the region to hunt down the remaining rebels.
"I hope that in the shortest period all of the criminals will have been taken prisoner or eliminated," he said. "As for the eliminated criminals, their bodies are being identified now."
Livantsov said border guards had engaged another group of the rebels overnight as well, killing seven of them.
Russian officials said, judging from their beards, the rebels appear to be followers of the Wahhabite school of Islam. There was no independent confirmation of their identities.
Russian officials often characterize the conflict with Chechen rebels as a fight against fundamentalist Islamic militants, as opposed to a separatist struggle.
Chechen militants are fighting for a breakaway Muslim republic in Chechnya.
Some Russian officials suggested that the rebels may have come from Georgia, on Russia's southern border, but a senior Georgian official said it wasn't true. Russian officials have long claimed that Chechen rebels use Georgia as a refuge, a place to rest and obtain medical treatment.
Later, Russian officials said the rebels had come across the border from Chechnya, and that there had been "foreign mercenaries" as well as ethnic Chechens involved.
It is in the interest of Russian officials to say the rebels were from Georgia and not Chechnya, since Russia is supposed to be in control of Chechnya.
The official pointed out that Georgia has done a lot to reduce the number of Chechen rebels in its territory.
The United States has posted about two dozen Marines in Georgia, where they have been training four battalions of the Georgian army in counter terrorism tactics, he said.
Over the past two years, under pressure from the United States and Russia, Georgia has dramatically reduced the number of Chechen rebels in the Pankisi Gorge, in northern Georgia, said a senior U.S. official.
