BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom
Text of report by Russian news agency Interfax

Groznyy, 11 January: In the early hours of this morning units of the joint group of troops in the North Caucasus sealed off Chechnya's district centre of Shali which is situated on the Groznyy-Vedeno highway near the mountains.

This is the place where the most important highways of Chechnya, leading to Nozhay-Yurtovskiy and Kurchaloyskiy districts and major settlements in Shalinskiy District cross.

Interfax has learnt from the local administration that there are armoured vehicles in the centre of Shali. No cars are allowed to cross the main square, and the town cannot be entered from the direction of Duba-yurt, Makhkety, Vedeno and Avtury villages. Only military convoys and law- enforcement officers are allowed through. Representatives of the local bodies of power are not allowed to leave the town by showing their ID cards.

"A targeted operation" is being carried out in the district centre. No information has yet been released on how many people have been detained. No incidents involving weapons have taken place. It is not yet known when the operation will end.

In the past 24 hours two decapitated male bodies have been found to the west of Shali. They had civilian clothes on.

Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1021 gmt 11 Jan 02 and Charte sur la vie privée.