Suicide attack in Chechnya kills 40

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At least 40 people were killed in Chechnya when a truck packed with explosives rammed a local government building in the deadliest attack since rebels vowed to step up their opposition to a disputed peace plan.

With at least 100 people injured and dozens more feared buried in the rubble of the building, local officials warned Monday that the death toll may continue to rise.

Russian and Chechen officials immediately condemned the attack in Znamenskoye, 15 kilometers (10 miles) north of the Chechen capital Grozny, as an attempt to derail the fragile peace process in the breakaway republic.

The attack seemed to violently contradict President Vladimir Putin's assertion that Chechens' decision to overwhelmingly adopt a new pro-Moscow constitution in a March referendum had ended the separatist conflict.

With the Chechen prosecutor's office putting the death toll at 40 by midday, the bombing already stood as one of the deadliest single attacks since conflict between the rebels and federal troops broke out in October 1999.

The exact death toll remained unclear, with regional emergency officials telling Interfax that 37 people had been killed and 197 injured in the blast.

A Chechen police officer at the scene told AFP by telephone that many of the injured were "in critical condition" and that at least six other buildings had been damaged.

Police and interior ministry soldiers sealed off the site as workers with the republic's emergencies ministry and federal troops searched for victims in the rubble of the building, which housed the local administration, police and FSB security services.

Security guards shot at the truck as it came crashing through the gates surrounding the government complex just after the start of the workday at 10:00 am (0600 GMT), Sultan Akhmetkhanov, head of the republic's Nadterechny district, told ITAR-TASS news agency.

The prosecutor's office said the truck was packed with one tonne of explosives, leaving a crater around 15 meters (50 feet) wide and five meters deep when it exploded.

The attack proved that federal and local forces were incapable of putting an end to rebel activity, Akhmad Kadyrov, head of Chechnya's pro-Russian administration, told Interfax.

"Where did this car packed with explosives come from? How could it get to Znamenskoye?" he asked.

Separatist rebels have vowed to step up attacks to disrupt the results of the March 23 referendum that sealed Chechnya's place in the Russian Federation.

Last month, 16 people were killed in a minibus blast claimed by separatist rebels and eight others killed in a separate attack on a bus in Grozny.

In the last major rebel attack on December 27, some 80 people were killed when rebels drove two explosives-packed vehicles into the headquarters of Chechnya's pro-Russian administration in Grozny.

Kadyrov said Monday's blast was a direct attack on the March vote, in which voters also gave their go-ahead for legislative and presidential elections within the year. Kadyrov is expected to be a leading candidate.

Separatist rebels carried out the attack "against the people of the republic, who on the March 23 referendum chose peace and life in staying within Russia," Kadyrov said.

And he immediately accused rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov -- a former elected president of Chechnya who has since been disavowed by Moscow -- of being behind the blast.

Maskhadov's Moscow-based representative denied all responsibility.

"Neither president Maskhadov nor parts of the Chechen resistance are involved in the tragedy in Znamenskoye," Salambek Maygov told Echo Moscow radio.

Putin, who sent federal troops into Chechnya to quell the separatist insurgency while prime minister in October 1999, also accused the attackers of aiming to disrupt the Moscow-backed peace process.

"These actions are aimed at stopping the process of a political solution in Chechnya," Putin said, quoted by Interfax. "We cannot and will not allow this to happen."

Observers had warned that Moscow was carrying out the vote before security had been established in the war-torn republic and many urged Putin to first open peace talks with the separatists.

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