Eight killed in flats blast

Eight people were killed early today when an explosion ripped through a block of flats in the Chechen capital, Grozny.

The blast caused part of the building to collapse, Interfax news agency said.

Three other people were injured in the explosion, which severely damaged two floors of the building and partially destroyed another.

Today's blast came on the heels of a suicide bombing near the Russian military headquarters directing the war in Chechnya. At least 19 people were killed in that explosion yesterday, which targeted a bus carrying an air crew and support workers from an air base in the Russian republic of North Ossetia.

Chechnya has been embroiled in war for the better part of the last decade.

Russian troops withdrew after a disastrous 1994-96 war against separatists, leaving the region de facto independent, but returned in 1999 after rebels raided a neighbouring Russian region and after a series of apartment bombings in Russian cities that killed about 300 people.

A duty officer at the Emergency Situations Ministry in Moscow confirmed the explosion, but said it was not yet clear whether it was caused by a terrorist attack or by a natural gas leak. Such leaks are common across Russia, causing many fatalities.

The officer could not confirm the number of deaths.

The dead included six children and two women, Interfax said. Three other children were injured in the blast, which caused part of the five-storey building to collapse. The explosion severely damaged two floors of the building and partially destroyed another, the news agency said.

Residents said 13-15 people lived in the affected part of the building. Rescue workers from the regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry were at the site.

At least nine people died in the blast, officials said later. The chief regional prosecutor said the explosion was probably caused by a natural-gas leak.

Chechnya prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko said it appeared the cause of the blast was technical and not a terrorist act, Interfax reported.