MOSCOW, Aug 6: A landmine explosion killed 11 policemen in Chechnya on Tuesday, local officials said, despite huge security measures on the sixth anniversary of a crucial Chechen success in the first 1994-96 war.

The pro-Russian Chechen policemen died in the southern town of Shatoi in a military truck that was transporting 33 servicemen back to their barracks, the officials told Interfax news agency. Another seven Chechen militiamen were badly wounded.

The explosion, blamed on Chechen guerillas, happened not far from the local military headquarters. It was the bloodiest incident in the territory since 18 policemen were killed in April in a bomb attack in Grozny.

Law enforcement forces rushed to the scene as the wounded were evacuated for urgent medical treatment.

According to Chechen prosecutor-general Nikolai Kostyuchenko, quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency, 10 people died in the blast and eight were wounded.

Chechen national security chief Rudnik Dudayev told Interfax that all possible measures would be taken to find the perpetrators of the attack.

Russia poured troops into Chechnya in Oct 1999 in what it termed an anti-terrorist operation.

But a brutal guerilla conflict has raged since, in which Russia has lost around 4,500 troops, according to its own figures. The Soldiers’ Mothers lobby group believes the true figure is at least double that.

According to a recent poll, six out of 10 Russians want the government to open peace talks to bring an end to the nearly three-year conflict, in which some 80,000 Russian troops are fighting.

Russian and Chechen pro-Moscow authorities had tightened security around the capital Grozny and elsewhere in anticipation of possible attacks to mark the anniversary of the Aug 6, 1996, invasion of Grozny in the final stages of the two-year war.

In the attack, thousands of Chechens almost captured the city and inflicted heavy losses on Russian forces.

A few months later Russian troops pulled out of the republic, leaving Chechnya with de facto independence until the latest war began.

FREED FROM CAPTIVITY: Military officials announced that two Russian servicemen had been freed from captivity in Chechnya, including one abducted at a market place in Grozny.