Truck bomb blamed for Chechen blast

A powerful truck bomb is being blamed for the blast which ripped through the Chechen government headquarters in the regional capital Grozny today, killing at least 40 people.

TV said that two men were in a truck that blew up next to the building.

It was the biggest Chechen rebel attack since militants seized a Moscow theatre in October, taking some 800 people hostage. All 41 attackers were killed, as were 129 of the hostages, all but two of whom succumbed to the gas used to incapacitate the assailants.

The last large attack in Grozny occurred in September, when a bus was blown up on a land mine. Nineteen people were killed.

The Russian government has insisted that Chechnya is returning to normal, and that the military campaign there is nearly complete.

But the rebels have continued to unleash small-scale attacks on Russian troops and Chechens perceived to be collaborating with them, as well as the occasional larger explosion of military trucks, police stations and other symbols of Russian authority.

Rebels have also shot down several military helicopters this year, including one in which at least 119 people perished.