Gunmen Attack Chechen Parliament, At Least 6 Dead
VOA News 19 October 2010
Gunmen in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya stormed a regional parliament Tuesday, in a brazen daylight attack that killed at least three victims and wounded 17 others.
Details remained unclear hours after the mid-morning attack.
But authorities say the entire group of up to four militants was later killed in a shootout with local security forces responding to the scene. Police say several of the attackers died by detonating explosives.
A statement from Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said the remaining people inside the building had been freed.
Russia's RIA Novosti news agency described Tuesday's attack as a "major setback" for the Kremlin, which has claimed to have brought stability to the troubled republic.
Russia has fought two wars in the past two decades against Muslim separatists in Chechnya.
Major fighting has subsided, but attacks on government targets in Chechnya and nearby republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia continue almost daily.
The attack comes just two months after separatists stormed Kadyrov's ancestral village, Tsentoroi, in a suicide attack that killed two local security officers and 12 attackers.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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