Terror attack in Chechnya leaves six dead, 17 injured

Islamist insurgents killed in gunfight with police after storming Chechen parliament; separate attack takes place at agriculture ministry.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS, JPOST.COM STAFF
Chechnya terror attack (photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Chechnya terror attack
(photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
GROZNY, Russia — Insurgents stormed the parliament complex in Russia's volatile Chechnya region on Tuesday, killing at least 2 police officers and one parliamentary official, and injuring 17 others, authorities said. At least three insurgents were also killed, officials said, ending one of the most brazen attacks on the province's capital in months.
One insurgent set off a bomb at the gates of the parliament complex in Grozny, killing himself and wounding others, Chechen police spokesman Ramzam Bekkhoyev told The Associated Press.
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At least two other gunmen ran into the building shouting "Allahu Akbar" as they opened fire on the people inside, Bekkhoyev said. The attackers were killed in an ensuing gunfight with police, said Chechen presidential spokesman Alvi Kerimov.
All of the attackers were believed to be dead, police said.
Russian news agencies reported earlier that insurgents had also attacked the Agriculture Ministry building. The building is in the same complex as the parliament, and that incident appeared to be part of the same attack.
Restive Chechnya in the Russian North Caucasus has been battling an Islamist insurgency for years despite the iron rule of its Moscow-backed president, Ramzan Kadyrov. Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev is in Grozny and holding talks with Kadyrov about the violence.
An AP reporter in the parliament complex saw ambulances take away two bodies, along with the severed head of an insurgent. There was a grim scene around the parliament bulding, with body parts and a decapitated corpse near shattered window glass on the ground.
Interior Ministry special forces paced the area in camouflage fatigues, wielding grenade-launching Kalashnikov rifles.
Shots were earlier reported inside the office of the parliament's speaker, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, but Interfax later reported that he had been safely evacuated.
Russia fought two wars with Chechen separatists in the 1990s before finally installing a loyal government there in 2000.
Since then, most of the Islamist insurgents have moved over into the neighboring Russian republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia, with terrorist attacks seldom striking at the heart of Grozny in recent years.
The provinces make up Russia's predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region, which separatists strive to turn into an independent emirate that adheres to Sharia law.
But in August a shootout in Kadyrov's home village between his guards and suspected insurgents left 19 people dead, including 5 civilians, raising fears of a reviving insurgency.
Kadyrov in recent years has boasted of peace returning to Grozny, but human rights activists say the price has been too high. They say extra-judicial killings, kidnappings and torture — administered under the pretext of fighting extremism — maintain the quiet.


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