MOSCOW (Reuters) - Pro-Moscow forces are using abductions and murder to subdue separatist resistance in 
Chechnya, even securing false confessions under torture, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Friday. 
The fresh allegations of rights abuses came three days after President Vladimir Putin, who came to power on a pledge to break Chechen separatism, publicly recognized that abductions were a growing problem in the shattered region.

"What the Russian government describes as its "war on terror" in this region is being used as a pretext for violations that include "disappearances," torture, arbitrary detention and incommunicado detention," said Amnesty in a report.

"Such violations are overwhelmingly committed with impunity, as very few perpetrators are ever identified and brought to justice."
Ramzan Kadryov, the de facto head of Pro-Moscow forces in Chechnya, has denied rights groups' allegations that he uses torture and abduction as ways to enforce his rule.

But Amnesty said the violent campaign of abductions was aimed at finding scapegoats for attacks on Russian forces.
"People reportedly are being arbitrarily detained and held in incommunicado detention where they are subjected to torture and ill-treatment in order to force them to "confess" to crimes... including 'terrorist' crimes," it said.
"The office of the procuracy - the organ responsible for investigating violations of the law - at all levels appears to fail to take effective action to investigate allegations of serious human rights violations."

Putin on Tuesday told a Chechen woman in a televised nationwide phone-in that his government would do all it could to find people who had been snatched during the ten-year war. Activists say thousands of people have been spirited away, with one Russian official saying 1,700 had disappeared in 2004 alone.

Amnesty said Russia had to investigate all cases thoroughly and ensure detainees were held in accordance with the law.
Putin sent troops back into Chechnya six years ago and officials say the region is calming down. They say rebel groups are reduced to scattered fragments, although attacks on police and troops occur daily.
Interfax news agency reported gunmen had killed two policemen near the Chechnya regional capital of Grozny when they opened fire on their car on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, security forces said they had averted a major attack on Thursday when they stopped a car in Grozny and found explosives apparently designed for use by a suicide bomber.