At least 30 people were killed and more than 70 injured early on Monday when a truck loaded with explosives blew up an administration building in the Chechen village of Znamenskoye, a local official reported.
The death toll may rise as workers continue to search for victims following the morning blast, said Sultan Akhmetkhanov, head of the republic’s Nadterechny district.
A truck packed with explosives levelled at least five other buildings as well as the administration building, which also housed the local police and FSB (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti [Federal Security Service]) security services, according to Akhmad Kadyrov, head of Chechnya’s pro-Russian administration.
Kadyrov said that at least 16 people were killed and ”many others injured” in the blast.
Last month, 16 people were killed in an attack on a minibus in the breakaway republic in a blast claimed by separatist rebels, who have vowed to step up attacks to disrupt the results of a controversial March vote that sealed Chechnya’s place in the Russian Federation.
The republic has been fraught with renewed violence since the March 23 referendum, when voters adopted a new pro-Moscow constitution following several months of relative calm.
In the last major rebel attack on December 27, some 80 people were killed when rebels drove two explosives-packed vehicles into the Chechen administration building in Grozny. – Sapa-AFP