September 27, 1999
Web posted at: 5:44 a.m. EDT (0944 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian pilots launched a fifth day of air raids on Chechnya on Monday, striking oil facilities in the territory near its capital, Grozny, Russian military officials said.

Russian military officials in the neighboring Caucasian region of Dagestan confirmed bomber and fighter aircraft attacked targets in Chechnya on Monday, and claimed 10 arms depots and three bridges were destroyed in the previous four days of bombing.

The Itar-Tass news agency said Sukhoi-25 jets struck industrial targets, including oil facilities, in Grozny. Oil is widely seen as the main source of income for the separatists who have controlled Chechnya since a 1994-96 war against Russia, which killed tens of thousands.

The new raids came a day after news that Moscow is considering other means of bringing Islamic militants to heel, including a new incursion into Chechnya.

Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev refused to rule out a ground offensive Sunday, though he said little about Russia's plans. Both the military and the country's prime minister expressed confidence that Russian forces would crush the guerrillas, who are trying to establish an Islamic republic on Russia's southern fringe.

Sergeyev, visiting recuperating soldiers in a military hospital, said no ground operation would begin until the Russian air force had completed its mission by "ripping this infection from its roots."

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tried on Monday to reassure Russians there would be no repeat of the disastrous Chechen war.

"We will use the benefit of modern means to destroy the terrorists on the fringes. We will destroy their infrastructure," Putin told the daily Vremya in an interview published Monday. "There will be no frontal attacks. We will protect our people."

The rebels have also been linked to a number of devastating bombings in several Russian cities. Public opinion in Russia appears to favor tough action against them, and Russian defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the political climate is similar to the prevailing mood at the time of the 1994 Chechen war.

"Prime Minister Putin's ratings are rising right now because he's talking very tough on Chechnya and bombing Chechynya," Felgenhauer said. "He might make more drastic actions, maybe even send in the troops, and the troops will have to go."

The Russian military so far has said it will continue to carry out "pinpoint" air raids on what it describes as terrorist camps and installations in Chechnya.

The new Russian air campaign has put Chechnya's television system and its mobile telephone network out of action. Thousands of civilians have fled the area.

Correspondent Mike Hanna and Reuters contributed to this report.

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