Posted on 05/12/2003 3:57:51 AM PDT by miltonim
Chechnya truck blast kills 30
At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured today when a truck packed with explosives blew up in a government compound in northern Chechnya. Sultan Ahmetkhanov, the top official in the Nadterechny region where the attack took place, said the suspected rebel attack damaged part of an administrative building and the HQ of the federal security service in the town of Znamenskoye, as well as about eight homes.
At least 30 people died and two to three times that number were injured in the blast, he said. The ITAR-Tass news agency, citing Chechen administration officials, said more than 20 of the injured had been taken to the local hospital.
Initial reports indicated the truck-bomb detonated near the buildings, located in a government compound. The blast left a crater up to 16 meters wide and two meters deep, Mr Ahmetkhanov said.
The truck had passed through numerous checkpoints to launch an attack that exposed a fragile state of security, even in the most heavily guarded part of the war-shattered region.
Akhmad Kadyrov, head of the pro-Moscow Chechen administration, said: "We need to be more vigilant and responsible so that no vehicles with explosives can travel around the territory of the republic. Where did this car with explosives come from? How did it get to Znamenskoye? I have many questions."
Mr Kadyrov said the Znamenskoye attack showed that Russian and regional Chechen security services are unable to prevent all Chechen rebel attacks.
"It is necessary to be more alert and responsible, so that no cars with explosives can travel on the territory of the republic," Interfax quoted him as saying.
Northern Chechnya is considered the most stable part of the country. It was the first area to come under the control of the Russian forces that entered the republic in 1999, starting the second war in a decade. Znamenskoye houses a large refugee camp and has served as headquarters for international human rights monitors.
The bombing is the most serious rebel attack since March, when Chechens voted in favour of a new constitution, proposed by Moscow, stipulating that the republic should be part of the Russian Federation.
The referendum was widely viewed as a victory for the Kremlin, but today's attack will come as a big setback to hopes for peace after 10 years of bloodshed.
In December, a truck-bomb attack on the headquarters of the Moscow-backed Chechen administration in the capital, Grozny, killed an estimated 70 people.
Last October, Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theatre and took about 800 people hostage. Most of the rebels and some 120 hostages were killed when Russian forces stormed the building.
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