The war-scarred Chechnya is once again ground for gun fights as at least six insurgents and five Russian troops have been killed in gun battles on Friday.

A law enforcement official has said five or six federal servicemen were killed in fighting that began on Thursday and persisted on Friday in forested mountains southwest of the capital, Grozny.

Moscow-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s office said six insurgents were killed on Thursday in separate fighting.

Violence has escalated over the past year in Chechnya, undermining a recovery in the mostly Muslim region following two devastating 1990s wars pitting government forces against separatist rebels.

Kadyrov has expressed confidence that the insurgents will soon be destroyed and has even announced plans to build a ski resort once they are eliminated from strongholds in the southern mountains.
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