TOPSHOT-RUSSIA-CHECHNYA

TOPSHOT - The body of a Chechen fighter lies on the ground 19 January 1996 in the village of Pervomaiskaya taken by assault by Russian soldiers after four days of fightings. Russian forces searched for missing hostages today after their assault on the village as Moscow announced that less than two-thirds of the 320 Chechen rebels who fought there had been killed or captured. Just before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chechnya proclaimed independence and in 1992 separated from Ingushetia. The then Russian president Boris Yeltsin launched a military intervention in Chechnya in December 1994 which ended in 1996 with an accord that failed to address the region's final status. A new conflict erupted in October 1999 and has since left at least 4,500 Russian soldiers dead, according to official figures although other groups say the true number is closer to 13,000. There are in some 70,000 Russian soldiers based in the republic, while Moscow estimates the rebel forces at around 1,500 to 5,000. AFP PHOTO VLADIMIR MASHATIN (Photo by VLADIMIR MASHATIN / AFP) (Photo by VLADIMIR MASHATIN/AFP via Getty Images)