Chechnya declared a state of emergency yesterday as Russian troops bombarded Muslim rebels in neighbouring Dagestan, on the western coast of the Black Sea.
On the ninth day of fighting, the acting Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, said in Moscow that "international terrorists" were taking part in the rebellion. On Friday he said Russia would not balk at bombing Chechnya.
President Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya has imposed a one-month state of emergency from today.
Mr Maskhadov's decree imposes a curfew and a ban on all media except state-owned television. It said military units, especially the border guard, should be on alert and declared a partial mobilisation of reservists and veterans of the Chechen war.
Mr Putin, in one of his rare interviews since being nominated as premier last Monday, told state-owned RTR TV that "international terrorists" were behind the conflict. "You can hear foreign speech in broadcasts. You can see dark-skinned people," he said.
At least one fighter of Jordanian origin is with the rebels.
Jets and artillery were used to clear rebels from strategic heights in Botlikh province, one of the main battle zones, after a 12-hour battle, the head of the military press service in the North Caucasus was quoted as saying.
The Russian Interior Ministry in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala, said 21 rebels and one paramilitary policeman had been killed. It said the rebels controlled four villages out of 32 in Botlikh.
Russia says at least 200 guerrillas have been killed in the fighting and on Saturday put its losses at 14. The rebels, via an Internet site, said they had killed 130 Russian soldiers and officers and destroyed nine helicopters and one fighter jet.
The Chechen fighters are led by Shamil Basayev, known for a spectacular raid on the Russian town of Budyonnovsk during the Chechen war. They have declared a separatist state in Dagestan and called for a holy war of liberation from Moscow.