MOSCOW, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 20 rebels involved in the assassination of Chechen ex-president Akhmad Kadyrov have been killed in a special operation conducted by Russia's federal forcesin Chechnya, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper cited a Chechen prosecutor as saying on Tuesday.

    In an interview with the newspaper, Chechnya's prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko said the militants were killed recently in an operation code-named "Revenge" in Chechnya's Vedeno District.

    He denied some media reports that Russia's federal forces in Chechnya had massively abused human rights.

    The prosecutor stressed that the rebels killed were "not ordinary criminals, but organized, well-armed and well-trained gangs."

    Kadyrov was killed in a bomb blast during a ceremony marking Victory Day in the Chechen capital city of Grozny on May 9. At least 14 people were killed and some 40 others injured in the explosion. Enditem