His generals boasted about the "surgical precision" of their attack. But in the end, Boris Yeltsin won his latest little war by using the most indiscriminate weapon at his disposal. In three days of allout assault, elite Russian troops failed to take the village of Per- vomaiskoye, where about 300 Chechen rebels were dug in with around 120 hostages. "The Chechens fought like lions," said one of the special-forces officers.
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