April 25 - At least six Russian policemen were killed and five others wounded when a time bomb ripped through a police building in a Chechen city of Gudermes.

But the rebels' retaliatory assault, which was unleashed not just in Grozny but in several other Chechen cities, seems likely to end soon.

Tanya Anisimova was born in the Chechen city of Grozny into a family of scientists: her father Dr. Mikhail Anisimov is a well-known physicist.

The four-month-old war, which many critics in Russia and abroad have called needlessly brutal and prolonged, has practically leveled the regional capital of Grozny, and several other Chechen cities and towns.

The small mission, in the northwestern Chechen city of Znamenskoye, has overseen dozens of relief and economic projects, but the group has also criticized Russian forces for abuses against civilians.

The pictures have also revealed the grim aftermath of Venezuela's recent floods and mudslides, as well as smoke curling over the Chechen city of Grozny, which was under Russian attack.

Russian troops scattered to look for rebel snipers as Nikolai P. Koshman climbed out of his helicopter to inspect this battered Chechen city.

There has been no contact since April 9, when they were believed to be near Bamut, a Chechen city that has been engulfed in major fighting recently.

By day, in Grozny and the other major Chechen cities and settlements, Russian troops control the roads and the life.

Since then the Chechen city of Grozny has practically been razed, tens of thousands of people have died, and Mr. Yeltsin's political future has been put in absolute peril.