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MOSCOW, Monday (AFP)

Chechen rebels have won total control of Gudermes, Chechnya's second city, and of Nozhai-Yurt, a town in the southeast of the breakaway republic, a spokesman for rebel Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov told AFP by telephone Monday.

Security officials quoted by Russian news agencies have indicated that up to 400 Chechen rebels have attacked Gudermes, 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of the capital Grozny, but the Kremlin initially denied the reports and later said the situation in Gudermes after an overnight attack was "under control."

Earlier pro-Russian police officials said 400 Chechen rebels had attacked the republic's second city of Gudermes Monday, according to a Russian news agency.

Fighting with around separatist rebels was in progress at Gudermes, 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of the capital Grozny where a state of emergency has been declared, the RIA Novosti news agency said, quoting security officials.

Security officials quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency said 100 Chechen rebels were currently fighting Russian forces in the city. A pro-Russian policeman had been killed and several others wounded, they said.

The office of the Kremlin's top official on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, contacted by AFP, said the report of an attack on Gudermes was "totally unfounded."

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