The Russian Foreign Ministry is to seek the extradition of a rebel Chechen who has been granted political asylum in Britain.

Militants appear to have planned their seizure of a Russian school carefully, starting months earlier and sneaking weapons into the building in advance.

Russian security officials accused Shamil Basayev of planning the seizure of the school with al-Qaida financing, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported today.

UP to 10 people were killed in a blast outside a busy Moscow underground station last night by a suspected female suicide bomber.

THE Kremlin-anointed police officer elected as Chechnya’s new leader in a vote condemned by many observers vowed yesterday to consign separatist extremists to the “dustbin of history”.

Chechnya’s president-elect pledged to bring peace and stability to his war-torn southern Russian region today after the Kremlin-backed candidate was elected in a vote tainted by allegations of fraud and overshadowed by fears of terrorism.

The Kremlin’s favoured candidate for president of war-battered Chechnya overwhelmingly won an election that opponents claimed was riddled with fraud, Russian news agencies reported today.

A man who tried to bring a suspicious package into a polling station in Chechnya today was killed in an explosion as he ran away, election officials said.

Traces of explosives have been found in the wreckage of one of two airliners that crashed almost simultaneously in Russia.

THE crashes of two Russian planes on Tuesday brought immediate worries of terrorist attacks - Siberia Airlines said on its website that its air traffic control centre notified it that the Tu-154 had activated a hijack alert.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unannounced visit to Chechnya today, laying flowers at the grave of the war-ravaged region’s assassinated president.

A local leader of Russia’s main pro-presidential party was shot dead in Chechnya today in what the region’s prosecutor said was a contract killing linked to next month’s presidential election, Russian media reported.

A ROADSIDE bomb tore through the motorcade of the acting president of warring Chechnya, killing one person, just two months after Chechnya’s previous leader was killed by a bomb.

THOUSANDS of troops poured into a southern Russian city yesterday chasing suspected Chechen rebels who set fire to police and government buildings and killed at least 48 people in overnight attacks.

THE Kremlin has given its support to Chechnya’s top police official who is seeking to replace the region’s assassinated president.

CROWDS of mourners streamed to a village in the Chechen foothills yesterday to bury President Akhmad Kadyrov, killed by a bomb in Chechnya’s capital, and his widely-feared son was named a top official in the republic hours later.

Thousands of mourners flocked to Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov’s native village for his funeral today, a day after the Moscow-backed leader was killed by a bomb blast that cast Russia’s efforts to stabilise and control the war-ravaged region into chaos.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has vowed retribution after an explosion ripped through a stadium in the Chechnya’s capital during a Victory Day parade, killing its president Akhmad Kadyrov.

CHECHNYA’S president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed yesterday in an explosion in the capital Grozny, is a one-time rebel who earned innumerable enemies when he switched to Moscow’s side during the current war.

THE Kremlin-backed president of Russia's warring Chechnya region was killed yesterday when an explosion tore through a stadium in the Chechen capital where he was attending Victory Day observances, officials said.

Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was among at least 20 people killed in a bomb blast at a Grozny stadium where he was attending Victory Day observances, officials said.

Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov was among 10 people hurt today when a landmine exploded during Victory Day celebrations in a stadium in the capital Grozny.

FORMER Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, who has been linked to al-Qaida and was accused by Russia of maintaining international terrorist ties, was killed yesterday after his car exploded in the Qatari capital Doha.

A SUICIDE attacker set off an explosion that tore through a commuter train yesterday near the rebellious region of Chechnya, killing 40 people and wounding scores of others.

THE Kremlin’s candidate Akhmad Kadyrov won a landslide victory in Chechnya’s presidential election but few voters believed he would bring a rapid end to the fighting that has devastated their republic.

Chechnya’s Kremlin-appointed leader was assured of victory in the region’s presidential vote, a widely expected outcome after his main challengers withdrew or were removed from an election condemned by critics as a sham.

REBEL Chechnya voted for a new president yesterday, in a virtually one-horse race which the Kremlin hopes will help bring peace to the war-devastated region, but which many observers doubt will make a real difference.

The condition of Chechnya’s prime minister took an unexpected turn for the worse today amid fears he had been deliberately poisoned.

CHECHEN refugees flocked around Angelina Jolie yesterday as the actress visited a refugee camp in Ingushetia.

Chechen refugees flocked around Angelina Jolie today as the Hollywood actress visited a refugee camp in Ingushetia.

Dozens of masked gunmen have burst into a clinic in Chechnya and kidnapped five people as they waited to see a doctor.

A woman died of injuries she suffered in a suicide bombing that was aimed at the son of Chechnya’s administration chief.

TWO suicide bombers drove a truck full of explosives into a government complex in Russia’s rebel Chechnya yesterday.

At least 16 people were killed today in northern Chechnya in what appeared to be a suicide truck bombing at a district administration building.

A bus was blown up by a mine in the Chechen capital Grozny today, killing at least six people and wounding 11.

SUSPECTED Chechen rebel suicide bombers rammed vehicles packed with a ton of explosives into the local government headquarters in Grozny yesterday, gutting the building and killing at least 46 people.

Suicide bombers in a pair of trucks roared up to the headquarters of the Kremlin-backed government in rebel Chechnya and blew them up today, killing at least 65 people and wounding more than 60.

Two powerful explosions ripped through the government headquarters in the Chechen capital Grozny today.

A woman was killed and five were injured when a powerful explosion tore through the headquarters of the Russian-backed Government in Chechnya during a Cabinet meeting today.

A delegation of ambassadors from European Union nations visited Chechnya today on a fact-finding mission focusing on the situation of refugees and security in the war-battered region.

Russia is to reduce its vast military deployment in Chechnya and rely more on police and special forces.