Two Russian officers killed in Chechnya attack

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MOSCOW, Aug 24 (Reuters): Two senior Russian officers were killed when their armored vehicle was hit by explosives in Russia's restive Chechnya on Sunday, Interfax news agency reported, two days after a gun attack in a nearby province.

Russian security officials have said they expect a rise in rebel attacks after Russia launched a military incursion into Georgia, an ex-Soviet republic neighboring Chechnya, to crush its attempt to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

In the latest incident, a major and a lieutenant-colonel died of their wounds and two other officers were injured after a bomb and gun attack on their three-vehicle convoy near the village of Agishty.