By Nikolai Gorshkov BBC Moscow correspondent

Federal troops spotted rebels approaching village

Six federal troops were killed and eight wounded in combat in Chechnya on Sunday night, the Russian military has confirmed.

They also claimed that six Chechen rebels were killed and six wounded in the fighting over the village of Dyshne-Vedeno in south-western Chechnya.

The fighting started at midnight on Sunday when a group of Chechen rebels was spotted approaching the village.

They were confronted by a federal troops unit staffed mainly by ethnic Chechens.

The Russian military say this is sign of change in Chechnya, where they claim, the population is sick and tired of the rebels.

Car bomb defused

Moscow has been recently shifting the onus of anti-rebel operations to local police and interior troops.

It appears to be part of its policy of giving more powers to the pro-Moscow Chechen administration, with a view to electing a president and parliament in Chechnya that would keep the republic within the Russian federation.

This policy is meeting with fierce opposition from the rebels.

They have been regularly staging attacks on troops and civilians.

A huge car bomb was reportedly defused in the Chechen capital Grozny on Sunday, and a bus carrying federal police exploded on a mine, killing one officer and wounding four others.