Chechen rebels stage violent attacks

GROZNY, Russia, June 18 (UPI) -- The Russian-backed government of Chechnya President Ramzan Kadyrov says it's not worried about an upsurge in deadly attacks by rebels in recent days.

The violence included an attack on a Russian military vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades and an assault on a border guard convoy near Grozny which killed three soldiers Monday, as well as an incident in which a band 60 young rebels captured a Chechen village and killed three residents, the Moscow Times reported.

A spokesman for Kadyrov's administration told the newspaper the government is investigating all three incidents, but that neither the government nor its law enforcement forces were too deeply concerned about them. The unnamed official said they could be connected to the Yamadayev brothers, former rebels who have switched sides and now may be clashing with Kadyrov in a power struggle.

The Times reported the incidents happened in areas patrolled by the Yamadayev brothers' Vostok battalion, which has been suspended because of criminal investigations of the brothers.