"We Chechens had a harder time of it than the Iraqis. There were no high-precision missiles here, it was shells and missiles raining down night and day, with bomber planes making massives strikes," 41-year-old construction worker Taram Musayev said of the two Chechen conflicts.

"I survived both assaults," he said, referring to the 1994-96 war and the fighting in the breakaway republic that resumed in October 1999, both of which involved massive Russian air and artillery bombardments of the capital Grozny.

Tens of thousands of Chechens lived through the bombardments which took a heavy toll.

"My advice to the people in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities is above all to stock up on flour and water and matches and to sit tight, not moving during the bombardments," he said.

While opposed to the US-led campaign against Iraq, the pervasive Russian military presence in their republic meant that Chechens were largely unable to express their feelings other than in prayers in their mosques.

Markha Zakirova, 48, said she felt pity for the Iraqis.

"But I have to say also that a people that does not defend its country loses respect. It's shameful that a country as big as Iraq should give up to the occupiers almost without resistance."

She noted that two of her four sons had died fighting Russian troops, "and the third is in the resistance."

"I am not the only woman to lose her sons. That has been the fate of Chechen women over the centuries," she said.

Aslambek Idrisov, 38, a driver, recalled spending the three months of the bombardments in late 1999 and early 2000 in the basements of apartment blocks.

"The worst was when the rebels left the city, and the Russian troops moved in. First they'd throw grenades into the basements, then fire machinegun bursts. If there were any survivors they'd be interrogated. I hope the US and British forces are more humane than the Russian forces," he said.

Idrisov expressed surprise that the Iraqi forces had failed to resist longer.

"If our fighters had had the weapons the Iraqis have, they'd have liberated our homeland years ago," he said.

A 22-year-old university student, Muslim, noted that "a few thousand Chechen fighters armed with machineguns and grenade-launchers have been resisting one of the most inhumane armies in the world for three and a half years. And now we see Iraqi troops surrendering in their hundreds. How can you respect that?"

Above all Muslim felt "pity for the Iraqi population, as it's always the ordinary people who are the main victims."

The embattled Caucasus republic has seen its population dwindle over the decade since its leaders attempted to secede from the Russian Federation, partly through the attrition of war and partly through the flight of refugees to other regions.

Separatist rebels based mainly in the republic's mountainous southern regions have so far defied attempts by Russian troops to flush them out, and Russian-backed Chechen authorities in other regions have been unable to eliminate low-level guerrilla activity.

SPACE.WIRE