by Nikolai Topuria

NAZRAN, Russia, Oct 3 (AFP) - Chechen refugees fleeing Russian bombing raids are arriving in this city in neighboring Ingushetia only to find that they have nowhere to sleep, and some are starting to turn back.

"We're going back to Chechnya," said Rayan Mezhidova, 52. "What's the difference? We either die here of hunger or there under the bombs."

According to the Russian emergencies ministry, more than 90,000 refugees have poured into Ingushetia, a dirt-poor republic that lies to the west of Chechnya and is the only escape route open to Chechen civilians.

The refugees are seeking safety from almost daily Russian air strikes that have pounded villages in the east for nearly a month and have recently spread to the capital Grozny.

Ingushetia, with a population of only 300,000, has been unable to cope with the influx and has called for international aid to provide shelter and food to the refugees.

Russian aid officials have set up four camps in Ingushetia but they admitted on Saturday that the tents were already overcrowded, with refugees spilling into the area surrounding the shelters.

In Nazran, Ingushetia's largest city, there are more refugees huddled around the camps than in the facilities themselves.

The refugees sleep on the ground, some with blankets, others without, and await food handouts. At times the local Ingush have turned up at the camps with meals.

"We have enough aid for 10,000 people and soon there will be twenty times more, close to 200,000," said Ruslan Dakim, an aid official.

While some refugees have returned to Chechnya, others hope that other Russian regions will come to their aid.

Roza Khamuyeva said she was awaiting her brother who lives in Moscow and has promised to travel to Nazran to take them to the Russian capital.

Going to Moscow, however, provides little solace to Khamuyeva, who fears that residents from the Caucasus will be targeted for police harassment following the string of bombings of apartment blocks.

Moscow has accused Chechen Islamists of organising the bombings that left nearly 300 dead last month.

"We won't be left alone in Moscow. My brother has already been jailed twice," said Khamuyeva.

Resentment at the Russians for the bombing campaign is running high in the refugee camps.

"If Moscow says Chechnya is part of Russia, then why are they doing everything to make us hate this country. It would be better to die than to live under Russia, which has brought us nothing but misery," said Khussein, 51.

MOSCOW, Oct 3 (AFP) - Some 110,000 people have fled Chechnya for the neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia to escape Russia's military crackdown on the rebel province, Ingush President Ruslan Aushev said Sunday.

In the past 24 hours, an estimated 8,000 people have poured over Chechnya's border into Ingushetia, said Aushev, warning that the humanitarian situation in the southern Russian republic was becoming serious.

"Most of them are children, women and old people. We are beginning to experience a dire shortage of food, blankets and accommodation," Interfax quoted Aushev as saying.

"It looks like the number of refugees will be increasing and they will have to spend the winter here in Ingushetia," he added.

The refugee influx was costing his poor republic 1.3 million rubles (more than 50,000 dollars) a day, said the Ingush leader, who complained of Moscow's failure to provide adequate financial and other support to tackle the humanitarian crisis.

"We have been given 100 tents from several thousand refugees. We have had to accommogive Ingushetia a budget loan given the massive inflow of refugees. We cannot cope on our own," Aushev said.

The Ingush leader has slapped a ban on alcohol sales in the republic amid fears it could exacerbate tensions.

"People are stressed," Aushev told NTV television. "This is not the time for celebration," he added.

The impoverished republic on Chechnya's western border has borne the brunt of the refugee influx, while thousands more have fled east to the neighbouring Russian republic of Dagestan.

Interior ministry officials there said early Sunday that 3,104 refugees with relatives in Dagestan have been admitted to the republic over the last 24 hours, ITAR-TASS reported. The border remains closed to Chechens without families to Dagestan.

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (AFP) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) attacked Moscow on Tuesday for its treatment of tens of thousands of refugees who have fled Russia's campaign to crush Islamic guerrillas based in the breakaway Chechen republic.

The human rights body said it was "profoundly concerned for the safety and well-being of civilians displaced by renewed Russian bombardments over Chechnya, and by the prospect of the conflict's escalation," in a statement sent to AFP.

"According to our contacts, relief efforts for the displaced are inadequate to say the least," the organisation said, dismissing claims by the emergencies ministry that the situation was under control.

"Reliable reports of lack of shelter, of warm clothing, food, medical care, and the like are inconsistent with this claim," HRW said.

The Russian government had prevented those displaced by the escalating conflict from leaving Ingushetia, the Russian republic to which some 110,000 refugees have fled, for other parts of Russia where they have relatives.

"Such restrictions violate Russian law, which provides for freedom of movement throughout the country to its citizens, and Russian obligations under international law to protect freedom of movement to its citizens," Human Rights Watch said.

While Moscow had a legitimate concern to prevent acts of terrorism, "it may not do so by banning the entire displaced population from travelling beyond Ingushetia," the rights body said.

A string of bomb blasts at apartment blocks in Russia last month killed 292 people, attacks which Moscow has blamed on Islamic guerrillas operating out of Chechnya.

The refugee crisis was triggered by Russian air strikes on suspected guerrilla bases inside Chechnya, a campaign Grozny says has killed more than 600 civilians since September 5.

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (AFP) - Moscow wants to repatriate the Chechen refugees who have streamed into neighbouring Ingushetia into the zones "cleansed" by Russian troops in northern Chechnya, the Sevodnya daily reported Tuesday.

"In Chechnya, there are plenty of empty houses where onc can live normally. Winter is approaching and the refugees cannot stay for long in tents," an official from the Russian immigration services told Sevodnya.

The tiny north Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, which counts only 300,000 inhabitants, warned Tuesday it could not cope with the massive influx of refugees triggered by the month-old Russian offensive against Chechnya.

Only about 8,000 of the more than 100,000 Chechen refugees have been provided with temporary housing in tents and trailers, Ingush President Ruslan Aushev said, quoted by Interfax.

"We are badly in need of tents, trailers, or other temporary housing for these people. Some of them are staying with local residents, who are taking in from five to ten refugee families," he said.

Despite their hospitality, the Ingush are wary of the Chechens, fearing a health epidemic and the presence of Islamic extremists who may have infiltrated the refugees, according to Sevodnya.

The total number of Chechen refugees who have sought refuge in neighbouring regions has risen to over 118,000, the Russian emergency ministry said Tuesday, according to Interfax.

The ministry warned that up to 300,000 refugees could stream into Ingushetia alone.

It added that so far five tent camps, each capable of holding 4,224, had been set up in Ingushetia. Another three camps to set up 918 will be constructed.

Moscow launched air strikes against the breakaway republic of Chechnya on September 5, after two summer incursions into Dagestan by Islamic rebels, also blamed for a series of bombs in Russia last month which killed 292 people.

On Friday, Russian ground forces pushed into Chechen territory in a bid to wipe out suspected rebel bases and carve out a security zone to isolate the republic. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow now controlled a third of Chechnya.

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (AFP) - Moscow wants to repatriate the tens of thousands of refugees who have fled the campaign to wipe out Islamic rebels in Chechnya to territory now occupied by Russian troops, an official said Tuesday.

As Human Rights Watch (HRW) launched a blistering attack on Moscow for its treatment of Chechen refugees, an official from the Russian immigration ministry said neighbouring Ingushetia could not cope with the influx.

"In Chechnya, there are plenty of empty houses where one can live normally. Winter is approaching and the refugees cannot stay for long in tents," the official told the Sevodnya daily.

The tiny north Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, which counts only 300,000 inhabitants, said Tuesday that only 8,000 of the more than 100,000 Chechen refugees who have fled there had been provided with temporary housing.

Human rights body HRW said it was "profoundly concerned for the safety and well-being of civilians displaced by renewed Russian bombardments over Chechnya, and by the prospect of the conflict's escalation."

"According to our contacts, relief efforts for the displaced are inadequate to say the least," the organisation said in a statement sent to AFP, dismissing claims by the emergencies ministry that the situation was under control.

As fighting continued to rage in the Russian-controlled sector -- where Chechen troops said they had recaptured four villages -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pledged the government would restore municipal services in "liberated" zones.

"The federal centre will give assistance and support to refugees, forcibly expelled by bandits from their settlements, as our fellow countrymen," Putin said in comments quoted by ITAR-TASS.

Schools, hospitals, as well as military headquarters and local government offices would be reopened, and "the population will be paid pensions and wages there," the premier said.

But the emergencies ministry admitted that far from returning home, the influx of refugees, fleeing the worst fighting in the region since the bloody 1994-1996 Russian-Chechen war, was set to accelerate.

The total number of Chechen refugees who have sought refuge in neighbouring regions has risen to over 118,000, the ministry said, according to Interfax, and warned that up to 300,000 refugees could stream into Ingushetia alone.

The republic's President Ruslan Aushev appealed for more resources to cope with the tide of refugees.

"We are badly in need of tents, trailers, or other temporary housing for these people. Some of them are staying with local residents, who are taking in from five to 10 refugee families," he said.

According to Russian officials, so far five tent camps, each capable of accommodating 4,224 people, have been set up in Ingushetia. Another three camps to cater for a further 918 people will be constructed.

Moscow launched air strikes against the breakaway republic of Chechnya on September 5, after two incursions into Dagestan over the summer by Islamic rebels, also blamed for a series of bomb attacks on apartment blocks in Russia last month which killed 292.

On Friday, Russian ground forces pushed into Chechen territory in a bid to wipe out suspected rebels bases and carve out a security zone to isolate the republic.

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (AFP) - Moscow wants to repatriate tens of thousands of refugees who have fled an offensive against Islamic rebels in Chechnya to territory now occupied by Russian troops, an official said on Tuesday.

As Human Rights Watch (HRW) launched a blistering attack on Moscow for its treatment of Chechen refugees, an official from the Russian immigration ministry said neighbouring Ingushetia could not cope with the influx.

"In Chechnya, there are plenty of empty houses where one can live normally. Winter is approaching and the refugees cannot stay for long in tents," the official told the Sevodnya daily.

The tiny north Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, which counts only 300,000 inhabitants, said Tuesday that only 8,000 of the more than 100,000 Chechen refugees who have fled there had been provided with temporary housing.

Rights group HRW said it was "profoundly concerned for the safety and well-being of civilians displaced by renewed Russian bombardments over Chechnya, and by the prospect of the conflict's escalation."

"According to our contacts, relief efforts for the displaced are inadequate to say the least," the organisation said in a statement sent to AFP.

As fighting continued to rage in the Russian-controlled sector -- where Chechen officials said they had recaptured four villages -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pledged the government would restore municipal services in "liberated" zones.

"The federal centre will give assistance and support to refugees, forcibly expelled by bandits from their settlements, as our fellow countrymen," Putin said in comments quoted by ITAR-TASS.

Schools, hospitals, as well as military headquarters and local government offices would be reopened, and "the population will be paid pensions and wages there," the premier said.

But the emergencies ministry admitted that far from returning home, the influx of refugees, fleeing the worst fighting in the region since the bloody 1994-1996 Russian-Chechen war, was set to accelerate.

The total number of Chechen refugees who have sought refuge in neighbouring regions has risen to over 118,000, the ministry said, according to Interfax, and warned that up to 300,000 refugees could stream into Ingushetia alone.

The republic's President Ruslan Aushev appealed for more resources to cope with the tide of refugees.

"We are badly in need of tents, trailers, or other temporary housing for these people. Some of them are staying with local residents, who are taking in from five to 10 refugee families," he said.

According to Russian officials, so far five tent camps, each capable of accommodating 4,224 people, have been set up in Ingushetia. Another three camps to cater for a further 918 people will be constructed.

As the humanitarian crisis worsens, two provincial governors offered to take in 2,000 to 3,000 refugees each at a closed-door meeting between Putin and key political figures to discuss the Chechnya conflict.

Putin said he would consider the offer by the governors of the Volga region of Saratov, southeast of Moscow, and Altai, in southern Russia on the border with Kazakhstan.

Moscow launched air strikes against the breakaway republic of Chechnya on September 5, after two incursions into Dagestan over the summer by Islamic rebels, also blamed for a series of bomb attacks on apartment blocks in Russia last month which killed 292.

On Friday, Russian ground forces pushed into Chechen territory in a bid to wipe out suspected rebels bases and carve out a security zone to isolate the republic.

TBILISI, Oct 8 (AFP) - Hundreds of desperate Chechen refugees are trekking on foot across the steep mountain paths of the North Caucasus range to escape fighting in Chechnya and find sanctuary in neighbouring Georgia.

With little time left before winter sets in, cutting off this escape route, hundreds of women, elderly and children have walked the 10 kilometre (6.25 mile) pass to the Georgian village of Shatili in recent weeks, Tbilisi says.

Peaks in this mountainous region reach 3,000 metres (9,000 feet).

The dangerous terrain explains why so few Chechens have fled to Georgia, a former Soviet republic on Chechnya's southern border, since the conflict between Moscow and separatist leaders in Grozny erupted a month ago.

So far 1,581 people have crossed the border, including 436 "Kissintsy," ethnic Chechens who have Georgian nationality, according to the latest official figures, released Thursday.

At the same time, the Russian republic of Ingushetia, which neighbours Chechnya, says the flood of refugees into its territory has already broken past 130,000.

Last week, Georgian television broadcast interviews with women and children who had trekked five days on foot from the region surrounding the Chechen capital Grozny, across the mountains into Georgia.

According to these witnesses, a woman and two young children were killed when Russian forces bombed a bridge they were crossing on foot, on the river Sunzha in Chechnya.

Many refugees simply transit through Georgia, travelling onwards to Turkey or Azerbaidjan, according to the head of the government's refugee agency, Irakli Pirukhalava.

The others are given shelter by local authorities in the border region and by Kissintsy families living in Georgia.

Despite Tbilisi's insistence that it promises free passage for refugees into Georgia, the border has been reinforced, with the number of frontier guards doubled.

"The Russians accuse us of letting Chechen fighters through, but so far we have only intercepted five suspects who crossed the border armed with just one revolver," said the head of the Georgian frontier guard, Valery Gkheidze.

In any case, refugees will no longer be able to cross over into Georgia within the next three to four weeks, he added.

Once the snow falls, the mountain paths will become impassable, closing the frontier naturally.

MOSCOW, Oct 16 (AFP) - Russian shelling of a refugee camp in Chechnya has triggered a fresh exodus of terrified Chechen civilians into Ingushetia, the president of the southern Russian republic Ruslan Aushev told AFP Saturday.

The outspoken regional leader also attacked Moscow's relief effort as a "drop in the ocean" and said his impoverished republic urgently needed food, clothing and shelter to cater for Ingushetia's burgeoning refugee population.

Two days of Russian air strikes and artillery bombardment of Sernovodsk in western Chechnya had cleared the camp of its 5,000 inhabitants, Aushev said in a telephone interview.

Russian forces have been pounding the area in a bid to drive out Chechen fighters, prompting the refugees to flee into his tiny republic which is playing host to 148,000 Chechen refugees, Aushev said.

"The civilians are leaving because of artillery bombardments and air strikes by the Russian air force on their village over the past two days," Aushev said.

Nine people wounded in the assault had arrived in Ingushetia, said the Ingush leader, expressing concern that Russian forces could accidentally injure civilians in the push against Chechen troops.

"I cannot rule that out. We have already given the commanders of federal forces a detailed map showing the refugee camps," he said.

Ingushetia, whose peacetime population was around 300,000, was in danger of being overwhelmed by the refugee influx, said Aushev, who accused Moscow of blocking direct relief aid to his republic from international aid organisations.

"Aid from the federal centre is arriving but it's just a drop in the ocean. Several international organisations have said they intend to give aid directly to Ingushetia.

"But they have told me that they have been denied this possibility. They have been told that they have to give the aid via Moscow only," he added.

Aushev has clashed with the federal authorities several times over the plight of the refugees flooding his republic, Moscow playing down his talk of a humanitarian crisis.

The Russian government has insisted it can cope with the refugee situation although Moscow has told EU and UN chiefs that it will not turn away offers of outside help.

MOZDOK, Russia, Oct 19 (AFP) - Hundreds of Chechen refugees packed into buses in North Ossetia Tuesday and, under Russian army escort, headed back to what is left of their homes destroyed by Moscow's military drive in Chechnya.

Having fled their homes in haste and panic just weeks ago, refugees from the Naurskaya and Shelkovskaya districts headed home to areas of the breakaway Chechen republic now controlled by federal government troops.

The refugees, mainly women, children and pensioners, set off in a dozen or so dilapiNorth Ossetia, the nerve centre of the military operation which caused the refugee exodus.

More than 170,000 refugees have fled Chechnya since Russian warplanes began pounding the renegade republic on September 5, the vast majority heading for the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia.

Moscow has said it wants to repatriate the tens of thousands of refugees who fled Chechnya to return home to areas under Russian control, where a pro-Moscow administration is to be installed.

SLEPTSOVSK, Russia, Oct 23 (AFP) - The Russian army on Saturday closed the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, halting a massive refugee exodus triggered by attacks on the Chechen capital.

Russian soldiers backed by armoured vehicles took control of the Semnovodsk and Tsentralnyi border crossings which had been manned by local Ingushetian officials, an AFP correspondent reported.

More than 3,000 Chechens had crossed into Ingushetia by Friday in the first 24 hours after missile attacks on Grozny left 137 people dead, according to Chechen officials.

Thousands more were reported to have left their homes and to be heading across the border on Saturday.

The president of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, said his country was currently sheltering more than 163,700 refugees.

In Sleptsovsk, an Ingush town near the border, "the flow of refugees intensified considerably after the missile strikes on central Grozny," an Ingush interior ministry soldier named Muslim said.

"We are hardly checking any of the cars passing through, except those that are obviously suspicious and despite that there is still a queue three kilometres (two miles) long," Muslim said.

"We haven't seen such a large influx since the start of the war. There have got to be at least 10,000 people (here)," he added.

Mariam, aged 52, walked all the way to the border with her four children because she was convinced the air raids would continue.

"They are going to bomb civilian houses. Why is everyone so surprised? No one expected anything different from them," she said.

Akhmed, another Chechen fleeing the attacks, expressed outrage at Thursday's attack on a market and maternity hospital in Grozny.

"Why is everyone keeping quiet? The truth will come out anyway. It is unbearable to hear people saying that it was an arms depot that exploded," Akhmed said, referring to Russian claims that the attack targeted an arms market.

"There is no more room in the hospitals. My neighbour had to be taken to a hospital in Argun, 20 kilometre (12 miles) from Grozny," he said.

Mariam and Akhmed were the last refugees to cross the border into Ingushetia but the conditions in the republic will not be easy for the new arrivals.

Aushev and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have warned of a mounting humanitarian disaster in Ingushetia. The UNHCR said the number of refugees could almost double to 300,000 if the Chechen military operation continued.

On Friday, some 5,000 people slept under open skies due to a lack of shelter and tents.

The Russian Interfax news agency reported that 16 trucks with 77 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including tents, food, clothing, medicine and fuel, had arrived in Ingushetia on Saturday.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (AFP) - A UN mission will leave soon for areas bordering on Chechnya to assess the needs of refugees who have fled fighting between Russian and Chechen forces, the UN said Thursday.

A spokesman corrected an earlier statement saying that the mission would go to Chechnya itself.

The spokesman issued a statement from Secretary General Kofi Annan which "called on both sides in this conflict to show restraint and to take special care to avoid civilian casualties."

"While the problem of terrorism is of legitimate concern to all governments, it is important that the response to it should be proportional and that the provisions of humanitarian law in armed conflict are respected at all times," the statement said.

"In situations as complex as that in Chechnya, the solution must ultimately be political," it concluded.

Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that Annan had sent "a senior official to Moscow to discuss the possibility of sending a UN humanitarian mission to Chechnya".

He added that "the mission will leave very soon, possibly before the end of the month."

He later explained that "the mission is not expected to go to Chechnya but only to the neighbouring areas where the refugees are concentrated."

Russian officials have said that 182,500 people had fled Chechnya since Russian troops entered the territory on October 1, and that most of them had gone to Ingushetia.

Asked whether the envoy had held political talks in Moscow, Eckhard replied that the mission would be "purely humanitarian".

The envoy, Franz-Josef Homann-Herimberg, "met with relevant agency heads including the deputy prime minister responsible for humanitarian affairs", he said.

Austrian-born Homann-Herimberg, now retired, is a former senior official of the High Commissioner for Refugees and a senior aide to Sergio Vieira de Mello, under secretary general for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, Eckhard said.

ATTENTION - UPon Friday struck a convoy of Chechen refugees heading for shelter in neighboring Ingushetia, wounding at least 30 people and killing many, witnesses and Chechen officials said.

A spokesman for Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov in Grozny said some 50 refugees had been killed and dozens more injured when Russians struck the convoy at around 2:30 p.m. (1030 GMT).

The column was hit near the village of Shami-Yurt, 22 kilometers (14 miles) west of the Chechen capital Grozny, as it headed for Ingushetia, witnesses said.

Russia, which sealed tight the border last Saturday between the rebel Chechen republic and Ingushetia, had promised to open on Friday several corridors to allow refugees to flee the fighting in Chechnya.

But the border remained shut and Russian generals said refugees may be allowed to cross on Monday at the earliest.

Russia has stepped up its offensive against the rebel republic, blasting the capital Grozny and "terrorist" bases throughout Chechnya from the air and on the ground with tanks and artillery.

Military sources told AFP earlier Friday that Russian rocket attacks were raining down on the south-western corner of Chechnya where the convoy was hit, around Shami-Yurt, Samachki, Achkoi Martin and Noviy Sharoi.

A witness, Magomed Khasayev, said the convoy was struck by two Russian warplanes circling above.

Chechen witnesses said at least 30 people were wounded and "many others" were killed in the attack. The witnesses spoke from a hospital in Sleptsovsk, Ingushetia, where at least nine Russian ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the attack.

An AFP correspondent counted at least 15 people seriously injured in the Shami-Yurt attack.

The hospital in Sleptsovsk was also receiving civilians wounded in Russian air bombardments of the western Chechen villages of Samashki and Urus Martan, medical personnel said.

The defense ministry press office in Moscow did not pick the telephone when repeatedly contacted Friday.

Moscow denies it has killed any civilians in its offensive, instead saying it has made "precision" strikes against groups of suspected Chechen "terrorists" since it launched air raids against the rebel republic on September 5.

But the new Chechen war, which escalated when Russian invaded the republic with tanks on October 1, has sparked condemnation of Moscow in western capitals.

US President Bill Clinton on Thursday urged Moscow to "stop fighting and start talking," a message which Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott repeated at talks in Moscow Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also called on "both sides in this conflict to show restraint and to take special care to avoid civilian casualties."

The UN is expected soon to dispatch a mission to the areas bordering Chechnya to assess the needs of more than 190,000 refugees who have fled the fighting.

The Chechen convoy Friday was heading along the Rostov-Baky highway, Chechnya's main east-west road which is now under Russian control.

In a similar attack on October 8, at least 28 refugees were killed when Russian artillery opened fire on a convoy.

In that instance, Russians initally denied the attack and later said it was not responsible for the strike after footage of the charred remains appeared in the western media several days later.

Moscow, which rejects any comparison with the brutal 1994-1996 war which killed 80,000 people and left Chechnya with de facto independence, insisted Friday it would press ahead with the offensive.

"The international community...supports tough measures to combat terrorism," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told journalists, denying US pressure to halt the offensive.

SLEPTSOVSK, Russia, Oct 29 (AFP) - A Russian rocket on Friday struck a convoy of Chechen refugees heading for shelter in neighboring Ingushetia, wounding at least 30 people and killing many, witnesses and Chechen officials said.

A spokesman for Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov in Grozny said some 50 refugees had been killed and dozens more injured when Russians struck the convoy at around 2:30 p.m. (1030 GMT).

The column was hit near the village of Shami-Yurt, 22 kilometers (14 miles) west of the Chechen capital Grozny, as it headed for Ingushetia, witnesses said.

Mikhail Margelov, a spokesman for the Russian Information Centre, acknowledged that the Russian army had opened fire on two trucks west of Grozny, the Interfax news agency reported.

But he denied western media reports that a refugee convoy had been hit, saying that the trucks were equipped with machine guns and were heading towards the Chechen capital.

"They could not have contained refugees, as the refugees are fleeing away from dangerous areas," he said.

Russia, which sealed tight the border last Saturday between the rebel Chechen republic and Ingushetia, had promised to open on Friday several corridors to allow refugees to flee the fighting in Chechnya.

But the border remained shut and Russian generals said refugees may be allowed to cross on Monday at the earliest.

Russia has stepped up its offensive against the rebel republic, blasting the capital Grozny and "terrorist" bases throughout Chechnya from the air and on the ground with tanks and artillery.

Military sources told AFP earlier Friday that Russian rocket attacks were raining down on the south-western corner of Chechnya where the convoy was hit, around Shami-Yurt, Samachki, Achkoi Martin and Noviy Sharoi.

A witness, Magomed Khasayev, said the convoy was struck by two Russian warplanes circling above.

Chechen witnesses said at least 30 people were wounded and "many others" were killed in the attack. The witnesses spoke from a hospital in Sleptsovsk, Ingushetia, where at least nine Russian ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the attack.

An AFP correspondent counted at least 15 people seriously injured in the Shami-Yurt attack.

The hospital in Sleptsovsk was also receiving civilians wounded in Russian air bombardments of the western Chechen villages of Samashki and Urus Martan, medical personnel said.

The defense ministry press office in Moscow did not pick the telephone when repeatedly contacted Friday.

Moscow denies it has killed any civilians in its offensive, instead saying it has made "precision" strikes against groups of suspected Chechen "terrorists" since it launched air raids against the rebel republic on September 5.

But the new Chechen war, which escalated when Russian invaded the republic with tanks on October 1, has sparked condemnation of Moscow in western capitals.

US President Bill Clinton on Thursday urged Moscow to "stop fighting and start talking," a message which Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott repeated at talks in Moscow Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also called on "both sides in this conflict to show restraint and to take special care to avoid civilian casualties."

The UN is expected soon to dispatch a mission to the areas bordering Chechnya to assess the needs of more than 190,000 refugees who have fled the fighting.

The Chechen convoy Friday was heading along the Rostov-Baky highway, Chechnya's main east-west road which is now under Russian control.

In a similar attack on October 8, at least 28 refugees were killed when Russian artillery opened fire on a convoy.

In that instance, Russians initally denied the attack and later said it was not responsible for the strike after footage of the charred remains appeared in the western media several days later.

Moscow, which rejects any comparison with the brutal 1994-1996 war which killed 80,000 people and left Chechnya with de facto independence, insisted Friday it would press ahead with the offensive.

"The international community...supports tough measures to combat terrorism," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told journalists, denying US pressure to halt the offensive.

GROZNY, Oct 30 (AFP) - Russian warplanes Saturday continued to pound Chechen capital Grozny after intensive overnight bombing, Chechen military sources said.

"Throughout the night, the federal army directed bombs, heavy artillery and Grad rocket-launchers at the north of the capital near the Sheikh Mansurt airport and on the northwest district of Staropromyslovski," a statement from the Chechen military command said.

Russian military sources earlier told Interfax their aircraft conducted 50 sorties during the night, killing some 100 Chechen fighters. There has been no independent confirmation of those figures.

Russian army press information official Alexander Veklich said fighting had taken place in the western suburbs of Grozny and in the north near the village of Tolstoi Yurt.

Roads leading to Tolstoi Yurt have been heavily mined by Chechen rebels, Veklich said.

He added that troops were exchanging fire Saturday near Samachky in the west and Gourdermes in the east.

The Russian military command said the raids had destroyed two rebel bases and an electric appliances plant where Moscow claims Chechens were starting to build weapons.

Chechen military sources confirmed reports of Russian bombing raids on the western towns of Samashki, Achoi-Martan and Bamut.

Meanwhile the situation of the thousands of refugees who have crossed Chechnya's borders has aroused international concern.

An EU delegation headed by the Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Tarja Halonen arrived Saturday at the Magas airport in the tiny neighbouring republic of Ingushetia to examine the refugees' plight.

Chechnya maintains the Russian military are attacking refugees fleeing to Ingushetia.

The Russian air force press service denied reports Saturday from Grozny that a Russian missile had struck a convoy of Chechen refugees heading for shelter in Ingushetia, wounding at least 30 people and killing some 50.

It added that the Russian strikes were aimed solely at Chechen fighters -- not civilians.

The same source said that two warplanes destroyed two trucks transporting armed rebels Friday afternoon on the Rovtov-Baku road near the western village of Shami-Yurt.

The planes fired after they were shot at, the air force said.

But Grozny and Chechen witnesses said Friday the convoy attacked by the planes comprised Chechen refugees.

The Chechen military press service reported that two warplanes had launched another attack Saturday morning on the Rovtov-Baku road near the village of Alkan Yurt.

KAVKAZ, Russia, Nov 1 (AFP) - The Russian authorities Monday opened the border crossing from Chechnya to Ingushetia, closed since October 23, where thousands of refugees were waiting to flee the war-torn rebel republic, an AFP correspondent reported.

Two cars transporting women, children and elderly people left Chechnya and entered Ingushetia through the Kazkav border post at around midday (0900 GMT) under the driving cold rain.

Aza, one of the first people allowed to cross over into Ingushetia, told AFP that "several thousand people are waiting on the Chechen side to flee to Ingushetia."

"There is a queue stretching back for 15 kilometres (around nine miles). Many people have spent several days waiting in their cars hoping to be the first to get through the border when it reopened," she added.

Only a trickle of refugees were crossing the border at a time, because of checks by Russian soldiers and the chaos on the Chechen side.

"Don't go back to Chechnya, it's all being bombed," Aza shouted to those making the reverse journey into the breakway republic.

Russia, which poured tanks and soldiers into the breakway republic on October 1 in a declared bid to crush Islamic "terrorists", has stepped up its offensive with massive bombardments across Chechnya.

Many civilians have died according to Chechen authorities.

"My parents stayed at home in Grozny. I must go and fetch them and come back to Ingushetia to get them to safety," said Chead, a Chechen refugee who has been in Ingushetia for several weeks.

Some 5,000 people were massed on the Ingush side of the border, some going to search for relatives, and others waiting for family stuck on the other side of the frontier post.

Moscow had sealed the borders between Chechnya and the neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia nine days before, saying that Chechen "terrorists" were trying to infiltrate Russia.

The move, which cut off the main escape route for Chechen civilians fleeing massive Russian bombardment, met with condemnation from the Ingush President Ruslan Aushev, the United Nations and other international bodies.

The latest figures from Moscow suggest more than 190,000 Chechens have fled the breakaway republic since Russia began bombing raids on September 5, most of them taking refuge in neighbouring Ingushetia.

Russian news agencies said that two other humanitarian corridors had been opened Monday to allow refugees to flee the fighting, one into Dagestan, east of Chechnya and another into Russia's southern Stavropol region.

Russia had earlier promised to open at least four corridors for refugees, on Chechnya's borders with Ingushetia, Stavropol, Dagestan and north Ossetia, by Monday.

KAVKAZ, Russia, Nov 4 (AFP) - Russian soldiers let hundreds of Chechens fleeing the war cross the border to safety on Thursday, as a United Nations mission arrived to evaluate the worsening refugee crisis.

Meanwhile federal warplanes and artillery continued to blast villages across the rebel republic.

A line of cold, hungry and exhausted refugees stretching for kilometres (miles), inched forward as border guards, acting on orders from Moscow, waved past several buses packed with people, an AFP correspondent reported.

"We intend to let through 20 buses an hour into Ingushetia," a high-ranking Ingush frontier official, Amirkhan Dudarov, told AFP.

The Kavkaz frontier post, shut down by the Russians for ten days, was reopened Monday. But since then only some 200 people were allowed through each day, causing scenes of misery and desperation on the Chechen side.

Late Wednesday, some 1,000 Chechen refugees were allowed to cross into Ingushetia, after pressure from Ingush President Ruslan Aushev and ahead of the arrival Thursday of the UN humanitarian mission.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), which is leading the mission, on Wednesday demanded that Moscow reopen the border, comparing the plight of the refugees to the suffering in Kosovo earlier this year.

The small team was dispatched by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to assess the needs of the nearly 200,000 refugees who have fled since Russia opened an air assault against the rebel republic on September 5.

Most crossed into the tiny neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia, whose population only numbers 340,000, and which has been swamped by the refugee influx.

Russian Prime Minister Putin sent Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu to the border areas in North Ossetia and Ingushetia to inspect the humanitarian situation.

One refugee on the border, Mila, 42, said: "Some prefer to die instantly under the bombing than to perish slowly from cold and hunger" at the border crossing.

Russian generals say the bombardment is targeting only "terrorist" bases, but eyewitnesses have reported mounting civilian casualties, including 25 killed in a Red Cross refugee convoy blasted by warplanes last Friday.

On Thursday morning, two Russian warplanes fired 10 rockets at the village of Krasnoarmeyskoye, northwest of Grozny, and bombed the nearby Rostov-Baku road, Chechen military official Isa Munayev told AFP.

Russian media meanwhile reported that fighting in Chechnya continued overnight.

Federal forces flew 120 sorties over the rebel republic in a 24-hour period. Some 150 Chechen gunmen were reported killed and 10 "rebel bases" destroyed, news agencies said.

Military officials said Russian rocket attacks were directed at the districts of Gudermes, Shatoi, Vashan, Daroi and Vedeno, as well as the outskirts of the Chechen capital Grozny.

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev turned a deaf ear to western calls for an end to the fighting by declaring he had won the president's go-ahead for an operation to take the rebel capital Grozny.

Sergeyev's remarks appeared to confirm western fears that Russia was digging in for a winter offensive in Chechnya similar to the one fought in the tiny mountain state during the brutal 1994-1996 war.

Russian troops launched the ground offensive last month in a bid to crush Chechen rebels blamed for a wave of bombings in Russia and incursions into neighboring Dagestan in August and September.