The abduction, as the 15-year-olds walked to school in Dyshne-Vedeno on Thursday, prompted local protests.

An interior ministry official said cars without licence plates stopped near the group and the boys were bundled inside before the cars drove off.

Human rights groups blame many of Chechnya's kidnappings on Russian troops and rebel forces.

More than 100 people blocked a road blocked the road between Dyshne-Vedeno and the neighbouring village of Belgatoi, demanding the boys' return, officials told the French news agency AFP.

Some abductions have also been attributed to the security service run by Ramzan Kadyrov, the son of Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a bomb blast in the Chechen capital, Grozny, on Sunday.

Senior officials in Chechnya have appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Ramzan Kadyrov to run for the Chechen presidency and overrule the local constitution, which says he is too young to stand.

New elections are due to be held before 5 September.

eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 13/5/2004

Residents of Chechen village hold protest rally

Ramzan Shoipov, a 30-year-old local resident, was detained and taken away in an unknown direction by officers of Russian security agencies in the village of Chiri-Yurt, Chechnya's Shali district, on May 8. The servicemen arrived at the village in cars without number plates. They beat the man's wife who tried to clear up why and where they were taking her husband. The servicemen conducted "address purges" in nearby houses, beating and insulting people.

Unwarranted searches were conducted in the houses of the Aydamirov and Astamirov families. An aged master (b. 1923) of one of these houses was beaten.

On May 10 and 11, residents of the Chiri-Yurt village blocked the road leading from Grozny to the Shatoy district. They demanded that the authorities should immediately release Ramzan Shoipov and stop the acts of terror against civilians committed by the military men.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov Source: Own correspondent

Police Commander Shot Dead in Chechnya

13.05.2004 MosNews

The head of the Criminal Police of the Shali District Directorate of theInterior Ministry, Khussein Khakayev, has been shot dead in Chechnya,the Interfax news agency reports.The head of the Shali district administration, Sharip Alikhadjayev, toldthe agency that Khakhayev, together with his relative Musa Dishnayev,was returning home from work at about 22:00 local time on Wednesday whenthree gunmen in camouflage fatigues fired at them with automatic weapons.“This happened in the town of Shali on Groznenskaya Street, near themosque. Khakhayev sustained numerous gunshot wounds and died on the wayto hospital,” the district official said.The other victim of the attack, Dishnayev, was taken to hospital ingrave condition, he said.This was not the first attack on law enforcers in Shali over the pastmonths. In early April the battalion commander of the special policeforce, Khamid Khadjiyev, was shot dead near his home when returning fromwork.