Chechen rebels who fought their way into the neighboring Dagestan region have released all their hostages and fled from a village they had occupied, avoiding capture.

　　Dagestani police officials initially said that most of the dozens of rebels who entered Dagestan from Chechnya after ambushing a border post were surrounded in the tiny village of Galatli.

　　But Dagestani Interior Ministry spokeswoman Anzhela Martirosova later said the gunmen left the village sometime before dawn, leaving behind their 11 hostages - seven from Galatli and four they had seized in another village, Shauri.

　　On Monday, the gunmen entered Shauri after killing nine Russian border guards on the internal frontier between Chechnya and Dagestan, and took four hostages, Interfax said.

　　Authorities said they believe the rebels split up into three groups on Monday, the ITAR-Tass quoted a border guard official in Dagestan as saying that seven gunmen who probably had been among them were killed along the border between Dagestan and the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

　　The foray into Dagestan prompted fears of a repeat of previous incursions by Chechen rebels into the region during Russia's two wars against Chechen separatists in the past decade.

　　In a January 1996 raid on the town of Kizlyar, Chechen gunmen seized 3,000 hostages at a hospital. At least 78 people were killed in the weeklong fight.