2, Believed to Be Bombers, Die in Latest Chechnya Attack

A truck exploded near a government complex in Chechnya today in what officials said was the fourth suicide bombing in or near the republic in five weeks. At least two people, believed to be suicide bombers, died and several more were wounded, the officials said. The attack occurred this afternoon in the Staropromyslovksy district of Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, not far from police headquarters and a regional office of Russia’s Interior Ministry. The force of the blast gouged a deep crater in the road and badly damaged several buildings, but initial accounts – as well as the toll of dead and injured – were wildly contradictory. An official in Chechnya’s federal prosecutor’s office said in a telephone interview that only 5 people were wounded, but other officials, cited by Russian news agencies, said that 6 police officers had died and that the number of wounded was as high as 36. Russia’s war against separatist fighters in Chechnya is now in its fourth year, and spring and summer often bring an intensification of attacks against Russian military and police forces. But with Russian troops having largely neutralized the guerrillas’ major combat capabilities, Chechen fighters appear to be relying increasingly on suicide attacks, often with spectacularly deadly results. Full Story