23:19, 1 March 2005

Gunfire keeps people in shelters overnight

Federal artillery shelled woodlands in Chechnya's Vedeno and Shali districts in the evening of 27 February. The bombardment began in the evening and lasted till the early morning of 28 February, said Vakhid, a 38-year-old resident of Serzhen-Yurt, Shali district, Chechnya.

"The blast broke panes in some houses. People did not sleep the whole night. Many spent the night in basements and shelters, afraid of stray shells," the man said. "As far as I know, the outskirts of some villages in the Vedeno district were bombarded too. Fortunately, no one suffered."

The military claims artillery and aviation are used very rarely in Chechnya, only to hit rebel groups and destroy rebel bases and camps in out-of-the-way woodlands and mountain gorges.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent