YEREVAN Jan 9 (NT, AFP) - Some 100 armed Chechens took control of a hospital and maternity unit in the town of Kizlyar near the Chechen border in Dagestan early Tuesday and were holding dozens of civilians hostage. The head of the Chechen commando, identified as Salman Raduyev, had warned in a radio appeal to the Russian troop command that the hostages would be executed if Russian troops still stationed in Chechnya were not withdrawn. Interfax said there had been unspecified casualties as Russian troops intervened. It added that shooting and grenade explosions were heard during the rebel assault and that firing was also heard around Kizlyar's railway station. Russian troops sealed off Kizlyar, while the Chechen rebels were firing on the Russian military headquarrs. AFP /AA1234/090722 GMT JAN 96

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