Russia Blamed for 7 Chechens’ Deaths

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia —  Prosecutors have concluded that Russian troops, not rebels, were responsible for the deaths of six students and an instructor at a teachers college in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, last week, the Chechen government said Monday.

The chief prosecutor in the pro-Russian government, Vsevolod Chernov, said the seven Chechens died from mortar fire Russian forces had called in against an alleged rebel position, a press service official said on condition of anonymity.

Chernov told Chechen television that the mortars missed their target because of “either criminal negligence or evil intent,” the Interfax news agency reported.

Last week, a Russian government spokesman blamed rebel grenades.

Chernov said that those responsible would be punished. However, few charges have been brought against Russian servicemen for harming civilians during the war.