Chechen explosion kills bodyguard

The explosion which hit the motorcade of Chechnya’s acting president today killed a bodyguard and wounded three others.

Acting President Sergei Abramov, who took the reins of the violence-plagued region when its president was assassinated in May, was not injured in the blast in the Chechen capital Grozny, Russian media reports said.

However, an official in the Chechen government said one person was killed and three were wounded in the blast.

Interfax news agency said that the dead victim was one of Abramov’s bodyguards.

Interfax reported that the explosion happened as the motorcade was travelling through Grozny’s Lenin district, an area where violence is common.

Eighteen members of the republic's presidential security service and 24 insurgents were killed in heavy fighting over the past two days, officials said.

The toll was one of the highest reported in a single clash in many months in Chechnya, where rebels, Russian forces and their Chechen security force allies have been fighting for nearly five years.