Rebels seen mobilising in Chechnya, 11 dead

GROZNY, Russia, May 24 (Reuters) - At least 11 Russian soldiers and police have been killed in Chechnya in the last week in what one official said was a sign rebels were mobilising for the summer, officials said on Wednesday.

Police said separatist guerrillas had attacked a military base late on Tuesday in the lawless Vedeno region in Chechnya's mountainous south, killing four and wounding three.

The attack came a week after six soldiers and special forces were killed by an attack on a column in the Kurchaloi region east of Grozny, said a source in the local military command.

Separately, the officials said one member of a police team investigating a bomb attack in the capital Grozny was shot dead and another injured when they were asking members of the public if they had seen anything.

"Relative calm had been attained in the republic, but sadly this has been violated recently," Ali Yasayev, the pro-Moscow head of Grozny's Oktyabrsky region, told reporters at the scene of the killing.

"This is the third time this week when the rebels have attacked police officers and servicemen (in Chechnya)."

Russian troops control most of Chechnya, where they have fought separatists for 11 years, but rebels traditionally step up their activities in the summer when the leaves on the trees and warm weather allow them to hide in the forests.

Attacks have spread to neighbouring Muslim regions of the Caucasus.

According to media monitoring by Web site voinenet.ru, clashes killed at least 41 people in the fortnight to May 17 and injured 59 over the same period across the North Caucasus.