As Russian troops stationed in war-torn Chechnya celebrate the death of longtime rebel chief Aslan Maskhadov, many residents of the war-torn province warn that the conflict between separatists and pro-Moscow troops will only get bloodier with the passing of the moderate leader.

The mood among Russian soldiers at Chechnya's ubiquitous checkpoints has been decidedly upbeat since the news on March 8 that Maskhadov, whom Moscow had hunted for years, had been killed in a village north of the capital Grozny.

Smiles abounded among the normally grim soldiers at the checkpoints, which most locals revile, saying they are little more than a front for extracting bribes from passing motorists.

"The only thing left now is to kill (radical warlord Shamil) Basayev and we'll be able to go home," one optimistic soldier told an AFP reporter.

But many Chechens say such euphoria is premature.

"They killed the only rebel with whom they could have held talks," said Aslanbek, a 32-year-old resident of the Chechen capital.

"Now the only people who are left are the ones who will fight. I don't want war, but there will be revenge."

His is an opinion widely held among the residents of the Caucasus republic that has seen two brutal wars with Moscow troops during the past decade.

Russian forces said that they killed the 53-year-old Maskhadov, a soft-spoken former Red Army colonel who was elected president of a de facto independent Chechnya in January 1997, early Tuesday at the village of Tolstoi-Yurt north of Grozny.

Moscow had labeled Maskhadov a "terrorist" and accused him of involvement in some of the most horrific attacks, including last year's Beslan school hostage taking that left dead more than 340 people, half of them children.

But Maskhadov had always denied any involvement in attacks that targeted civilians and was the only rebel chief who advocated a political solution to the 10-year-old standoff between the separatists and Moscow.

"We think that 30 minutes of an honest, eye-to-eye dialogue is enought to stop this war, to explain to the Russian president what Chechens want," he said in his last published interview, released March 4 on a rebel website.

Russian authorities are not likely to hear similar statements from the remaining Chechen rebels.

"It would have been better if they left him alive," said Saifudi, a 52-year-old resident of Grozny. "You could talk to him. Now the only people who are left are psychos with whom you can't talk about anything."

Although the rebels announced that Maskhadov had chosen a little-known Islamic theologian, Abdul-Khalim Saidullayev, as his successor, the de facto leadership of the separatists is expected to be now wholly assumed by the radical Basayev, who was unrepentant in claiming responsibility for the Beslan school hostage massacre.

Unlike Maskhadov, an elected leader of Chechnya, Basayev has much less support among ordinary Chechens. But even some who do not support his methods found themselves defiant following Maskhadov's death.

"If it was Basayev, we wouldn't care," said Magomed, a 43-year-old in Grozny. "But Maskhadov wanted peace."

"This won't change anything. After they killed (first Chechen president who proclaimed independence from Moscow) Dzhokhar (Dudayev) we had victory," he said, referring to a spectacular recapture of Grozny from Russian troops by the rebels that occurred a few months after Dudayev was killed in April 1996.

"It'll be the same thing now. Moscow has nothing to celebrate," he warned grimly.