A suspected rebel bomb blast killed six policemen in Chechnya today.
Five others were seriously wounded in the attack and taken to hospital, officials said.
The dawn blast flattened part of a building used by an interior ministry organised crime unit in Chechnya's second city, Gudermes.
The explosion came as the republic's pro-Moscow government met in its new offices for the first time.
The blast appeared designed to puncture authorities' portrayal of a return to normality following Monday's move by Chechnya's local pro-Moscow administration to a refurbished furniture factory in Grozny.
It had been located in Gudermes since the autumn of 1999, when Russia's second offensive in the region got under way.
An aide to Mr Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Kremlin's top spokesman on Chechnya, confirmed the death toll by telephone. Senior officials had earlier denied any deaths, saying four people had been pulled alive from the rubble.
The aide said a second device, containing 120 kilogrammes (around 260 pounds) of explosives was found in the regional capital Grozny. It was made safe by bomb disposal experts.