1 Joining a chorus of worldwide condemnation of Russia, the Moscow-backed Chechen opposition accused its purported ally on Saturday of widespread brutality in the war on secessionist Chechnya.
2 The harsh criticism came together with word of another Russian attack on Chechen civilians. Residents of Samashky said Russian helicopters raked a funeral with machine-gun fire on Friday, killing three mourners.
3 It was the second straight day people were killed at a funeral in the town, strategically located along a main road 18 miles west of the battered capital, Grozny.
4 'Why are they attacking peaceful people?' said Luisa Marsagova, 30, who lives in a two-story brick building overlooking the site of the attack. 'Yeltsin is a pig.'
5 Thousands of civilians have been killed since President Boris Yeltsin sent troops into Chechnya on Dec. 11. Many nations, and many Russians, have expressed outrage at the carnage. But the Chechen opposition had remained silent until now.
6 The condemnation by Moscow's supposed partisans in the fight against Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev could complicate Russia's already troubled efforts to subdue Chechnya and install a government sympathetic to the Kremlin.
7 The Chechen opposition assailed the shelling of residential areas, looting and the unprovoked killing of civilians.
8 'These practices are producing dozens of new volunteers, who until now have been loyal towards the federal authorities, to take up arms,' said Ruslan Martagov, a spokesman for the opposition Provisional Council.
9 His statement, however, carried by the ITAR-Tass news agency, justified Russia's use of military force in Chechnya, saying Dudayev's policies put Russia 'on the brink of disintegration, and it had to take measures to protect its integrity.' But, it said, 'we must speak about the kind of measures taken to restore constitutional order in Chechnya.'
10 Chechen fighters reportedly shot down a Russian warplane, a Su-25 jet, near Grozny. The Defense Ministry said it had no information on the incident.
11 New Russian artillery attacks on the Grozny area were reported Saturday, and heavy fighting continued around a bridge over the Sunzha River, the front line in the battle for the capital.
12 Southwest of Grozny, a deafening artillery bombardment could be heard near the village of Bamut, and there were reports the Russians were also shelling rebel strongholds of Argun and Gudermes east of Grozny.
13 There were troubling signs the war could spread outside Chechnya. Officials in neighboring Ingushetia said a Russian convoy had opened fire on the Ingush village of Gazi-Yurt. No casualties were reported. A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told the ITAR-Tass news agency that Russian troops had fired in self-defense.
14 In Samashky, Chechen witnesses said three helicopters opened fire Friday on a small crowd that had gathered for the funeral of a mother and daughter killed the previous day. Three men died in the attack.
15 Dozens of people have been killed in Samashky in a week of attacks, and many houses have smashed roofs, broken windows and bullet-scarred walls.
16 Truckloads of Chechen fighters arrived Saturday to assist the town militia, armed with Kalashnikovs and grenades and wearing black ski caps with green ribbons tied around them -- a sign of Muslim holy war.
17 About half the town's population, which had grown to 20,000 in recent days with an influx of refugees, has fled the fighting. But many people walked the streets Saturday in apparent defiance of the daily shelling -- men chatting on street corners, children fetching water, women running errands.
18 'Nothing can break our spirit,' said a woman in a black fur coat who gave her name only as Zulai, 38.
19 'If the Russians drive us out of our homes, we will all go to the mountains. We will all fight if necessary -- women and children too,' she said. 'Without question, we will win.'

The harsh criticism came together with word of another Russian attack on Chechen civilians . Residents of Samashky said Russian helicopters raked a funeral with machine - gun fire on Friday , killing three mourners .
raked a funeral with machine - gun fire
Why did the Russian helicopters fire on a funeral?