At least 19 people have been killed in fierce gun battles.<br /><br /> But Russian authorities say an ‘anti-terrorist’ operation launched <br />after heavily-armed rebels stormed the Chechen capital Grozny is now over.<br /><br /> The rebels attacked a police checkpoint before moving to a school and a building housing the media where they battled members of the security forces.<br /><br /> Ten officers are said to have been killed, and nearly 30 injured.<br /><br /> Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, is quoted as saying at least nine Chechen insurgents died. It is not clear how many rebels took part. <br /><br /> An Islamist group has claimed responsibility for the raid, saying it was revenge for the “oppression of Muslim women”. <br /><br /> The attack, before President Vladimir Putin was due to deliver his annual state of the union address in Moscow, underlines the fragile security situation in Chechnya over a decade after he sent troops to quell separatists in the turbulent southern Russian region.
