Gunmen 'storm Chechen parliament'

Insurgents have stormed the parliament and agriculture ministry in Russia’s volatile Chechnya region and people have died, Russian news agencies reported today.

Interfax is reporting deaths in the parliament complex in the centre of the Chechen capital as special forces converged on the scene.

Interfax said shooting erupted in the office of the speaker of the Chechen parliament, but he was evacuated safely.

Itar-Tass reported that in a separate attack, several gunmen stormed the region’s ministry of agriculture.