Chechen rebels ask Secretary Powell to intervene
VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia -- Rebel leaders in breakaway Chechnya on Saturday asked U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to try to get Russia to end military operations in the village of Mesker-Yurt. The rebels' foreign ministry said in a statement that Russian forces had sealed off Mesker-Yurt for several days to look for rebels and their sympathizers, detaining hundreds of residents and taking them to undisclosed locations in Chechnya.

