BISLAN GANTAMIROV

. Russian sources reported that four of Gantamirov’s bodyguards, all his relatives, were killed in the shoot-out, along with one guerrilla. Gantamirov said his offices come under attack “two or three times a week”…. Chechen sources claim rebels killed nineteen Russian troops in various assaults on Saturday night and Sunday morning…. According to Russia’s state news agency ITAR-Tass, on December 18 the republic of Ingushetia officially reported 187,642 registered Chechen refugees, of whom 1,911 had arrived over the past twenty-four hours.