MOSCOW — A train carrying Russian soldiers and military equipment left war-ravaged Chechnya on Friday, the second contingent to leave as part of a planned troop reduction ahead of a constitutional referendum later this month.

Some 970 servicemen from the Sofrino Interior Troops brigade and 120 military armoured vehicles left from the Khankala military base near the capital Grozny, Lt.-Gen. Yevgeny Abrashin said, according to the Interfax news agency.

It was the second contingent of federal forces to pull out of the southern republic in three days, part of the government's pledge earlier this week to immediately withdraw 1,270 troops and roughly 200 pieces of military hardware.

Russia has at least 80,000 troops in the breakaway republic, officials say.

The partial withdrawal comes amid Kremlin efforts to show the security situation in Chechnya is normalizing ahead of a March 23 referendum on a new constitution, which will subordinate Chechnya to Russian federal law but also pave the way for future elections.

Russia's 1994-96 war in Chechnya ended in a humiliating withdrawal and de facto independence for the separatist-led region. Russian troops returned in 1999 after rebels launched an incursion into a neighbouring region and after apartment-house bombings that Russia blamed on rebels.