Children among more than 40 dead in Chechnya

A truck bomb explosion ripped through a government compound in northern Chechnya today, killing at least 41 people including six children and wounding more han 100 others.

The blast, coming on the first working day following a series of state holidays in the war torn Caucasus republic, underlined the violence that continues to roil Chechnya even as the Kremlin claims the near four-year-old war is winding down and normal life is returning.