Twenty-five separatist rebels were killed in a wide-spread Russian military operation in southern Chechnya in 24 hours ending yesterday.

　　Preliminary estimates indicated that 25 insurgents were killed during a string of reconnaissance and search operations over the past 24 hours in Chechnya's Itum-Kale and Shatoi districts and the Argun Gorge, Colonel Ilya Shabalkin told the Interfax news agency.

　　Meanwhile, 10 Russian servicemen were killed in the same period in clashes with Chechen rebels and mine explosions, an official in the Moscow-backed administration said.

　　Four soldiers were killed and another injured when their vehicle struck a land mine on the outskirts of the capital Grozny, the official said. A further six died in skirmishes with rebels around the war-torn region.

　　Despite the continued loss of Russian servicemen in Chechnya, the Kremlin insists that normality is returning to the region, and have hailed an amnesty for rebels not accused of major crimes as a significant step on the road to peace.

　　Chechnya's Prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko yesterday said 200 rebels have so far surrendered under the amnesty and 89 of them have been granted amnesty, Interfax reported. Kravchenko also suggested that the September 1 deadline for surrender could be extended.

　　Russian forces withdrew from Chechnya in 1996 after a 20-month war with separatists