Troubled Chechnya

This AP report from Chechnya:

Gunmen attacked a Russian military convoy in the Chechnya region Tuesday, killing at least five troops and wounding as many as 25 others, officials said. Pro-rebel Web sites claimed more than 20 Russian soldiers were killed.

The convoy was traveling near the town of Avtury, southeast of the Chechen capital of Grozny, when it came under fire from three or four areas, according to the Interior Ministry in the mostly Muslim republic in southern Russia. It said preliminary information indicated seven servicemen were killed and 25 wounded.

Defense Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov, also citing preliminary information, said five servicemen were killed and 11 wounded.

The Web sites Daymohk.org and Kavkazcenter.com, citing unidentified sources, said that more than 20 "Russian occupiers" were killed and many others wounded, and that four military vehicles were destroyed or badly damaged in the attack, which they called revenge for the killing of Chechen rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev by police last month.

Daymohk.org said the attack was a "meticulously planned act of revenge" for Sadulayev's death.

With Sadulayev's death, Doku Umarov became chief of the Chechan rebels, and last week he named Shamil Basayev as his vice president.

Basayev was involved in planning the horrific tragedy in Beslan. That he is in a senior leadership among the Chechen rebels does not bode well for the future in Chechnya. Attacks like this one against Russian troops will increase.