Thursday October 21 12:42 PM ET

GROZNY (Reuters) - Rockets slammed into the center of the Chechen capital Grozny Thursday, killing dozens of people and injuring scores more, a Reuters correspondent said.

Rockets exploded about 50 yards from Reuters correspondent Maria Eismont. She said she had counted dozens of dead and wounded at a hospital in the town center. Survivors said rockets had hit Grozny's main market.

``Three rockets hit the central market,'' Eismont said.

``We were at the central city hospital. It was packed with corpses. There were women. Children. At least 30. There are so many corpses and injured. Every minute they are bringing more and more.''

Eismont said there were also reports an industrial suburb had been hit.

Chechen spokesman Movladi Udugov told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location that Chechen officials estimated at least 60 people had been killed in the crowded outdoor market and 150 injured.

He said a rocket had also hit a mosque in the city's Kalinin district, killing 13 people as they knelt in prayer. He said Chechen officials believed the rockets were Scud surface-to-surface missiles. This could not be confirmed.

A defense ministry spokesman in Moscow said he could not confirm reports of an attack on Grozny.

Russian troops are occupying high ground 7-10 miles from the capital of Chechnya, on Russia's southern flank.

Officials have not yet made clear whether they intend to storm the city. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday any assault on Grozny would ``depend on the concrete situation'' in the rebel region.

Putin was speaking to reporters at a Moscow airport before leaving for a European Union meeting in Finland, where senior EU officials were expected to quiz him on Moscow's attempts to find a peaceful settlement in the separatist region.