Chechen Mujahideen Kill 1 Russian Soldier Abducted 15 Police

Mujahideen drove into Russia's Ingushetia region and abducted up to 15 people including policemen from a checkpoint and a slot machine parlour, police and witnesses said Friday.

Witnesses said the gunmen, dressed in camouflage, entered Ingushetia from neighboring Chechnya late Thursday and presented themselves as police officers. Chechen authorities said they had nothing to do with the raid.

An Ingush police officer, who did not want to give his told Reuters the attackers drove to a checkpoint on the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia at about 11 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Thursday.

They disarmed the guards and took at least one Ingush policeman hostage, the officer said. He said they claimed to be Chechen police but did not present any documents to prove this.

They then headed to the Ingush village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, about 1.5 km (1 mile) away, where they went into a slot machine hall and kidnapped more people, the officer said.

"At this stage the investigation cannot give the precise number of those kidnapped. We still believe their number is between 10 and 15," the policeman said.

1 Russian soldier killed, 10 wounded in Chechnya

Mujahideen attack in Russia's restive southern region of Chechnya killed one Russian soldier and wounded 10 other servicemen and police, officials said Friday.

Chechnya has fought two separatist wars in the last 14 years against Russia. Large-scale battles ended years ago but Chechen Mujahideen still mount hit-and-run raids and plant landmines against Russian federal troops and local authorities.

Russia's Interior Ministry said the soldier died in a landmine explosion triggered by Mujahideen in the southern Chechen village of Serzhen-Yurt. Two other soldiers were badly wounded in the explosion late Thursday, it said in a statement.

Two other landmine explosions in the village of Goi-Chu wounded eight police officers, it said