VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia (AP) - The rebel foreign ministry in breakaway Chechnya has asked U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to use his office to get Russia to halt operations in the village of Mesker-Yurt.
The foreign ministry released a statement Saturday saying that hundreds of residents in Mesker-Yurt have been detained in military sweeps and taken to undisclosed locations in Chechnya.
In the latest clash between rebels and government troops in Mesker-Yurt, one Russian serviceman and one rebel were killed Friday, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said Saturday.
Six other Russian servicemen were killed in rebel attacks on federal positions and checkpoints and land-mine explosions over the past 24 hours, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Chechen foreign ministry said Mesker-Yurt had been sealed off for the past several days as Russian forces carried out a security sweep of the village looking for rebels and their sympathizers.
Human rights groups say the security operations terrorize communities and often result in torture, beatings and killings. The foreign ministry said 21 people had been shot dead by Russian forces in the Mesker-Yurt operation, but there was no independent confirmation of the claim.
"Due to the gravity of the situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria calls on U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to intervene personally to end the atrocities in the town," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry urged Powell to contact Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov demand they halt the actions of the Russian military and security services in Mesker-Yurt.
Federal authorities insist that all military abuses are thoroughly investigated and punished. On Saturday, the Prosecutor General's office again dismissed allegations that violations against civilians in Chechnya pass without action.
Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Frindinsky said there had been 395 investigations opened of crimes against civilians since Russian forces moved into the region, Interfax news agency reported.
Still, he acknowledged that "despite the definite positive developments toward restoring law and order on Chechen territory, unfortunately, individual instances of the violation of rights and freedoms of individuals and citizens continue to take place there."
The rebel statement asking Powell to intervene was in sharp contrast to one issued Thursday condemning remarks by Powell labeling Russia's opponents in Chechnya as terrorists.
Russia has long insisted that it is fighting international terrorists in Chechnya, not political separatists. Powell had said Tuesday, "there's no question about that."
Also Saturday, a 28-member rebel group surrendered to authorities in the presence of the head of the Moscow-backed administration, Akhmad Kadyrov. They were given security guarantees in exchange for handing in their weapons.
Russian forces withdrew from Chechnya after losing the 1994-96 war, and returned in fall 1999, after rebels raided Dagestan and after a series of apartment house bombings killed some 300 people.