At least 46 people, and possibly as many as 70, were killed and over 100 were injured yesterday when suicide bombers drove two vehicles, containing 1½ tonnes of TNT, into the government headquarters of the war-torn Russian republic of Chechnya.
In one of the most savage attacks in the recent history of the republic, a huge truck smashed through the three highly fortified perimeter fences of the fledgling Russian-backed administration, based in the capital, Grozny, with a jeep following closely behind.
Russian security troops, who man the fences in large numbers, opened fire on the jeep, apparently causing it to explode in the administration car park, leaving a six-metre wide crater.
The 20-tonne lorry continued with its cargo of explosives across lawns and into the building near the canteen. The attack was timed, officials suggested, to coincide with lunch for the building's staff, just after 2.30 p.m.
Russian television showed casualties being lifted out of the shredded facade of the building, a symbol of Moscow's attempts to restore normality to the region. The building's pristine front, usually one of the few in Grozny with glass in its windows, was ripped away. Many of the injured were hit by shards of glass, Russia's ministry for emergency situations said.
The neighbouring two-storey housing ministry and information centre were destroyed by the blast. As night fell, over 170 workers continued with the help of floodlights and cranes to lift the collapsed concrete floors under which many workers were thought to be trapped. The blast marked the largest attack against the Russian administration since the Moscow theatre siege, when 50 rebels held 800 people hostage for four days before a gas attack by Russian troops ended the stand-off, killing 129 and all the gunmen.
Last night over 40 people had been confirmed dead, but unconfirmed reports put an early death toll at 70.
Officials said they expected the blast would have killed 70 per cent of the 200 estimated to have been inside the building.
Mr Akhmad Kadyrov, the Moscow-backed Chechen administration head, said he knew "with absolute certainty that [the elected Chechen President and separatist leader] Aslan Maskhadov ordered and organised this tragedy".
Neither he nor the recently installed Chechen Prime Minister, Mr Mikhail Babich, were in the building.