GROZNY, Russia, (Reuters) – Islamist rebels killed at least four people today as they tried to seize Chechnya’s parliament in a brazen suicide attack that showed Russia has failed to quell insurgency on its southern flank.
Three rebels burst into the parliament compound in the Chechen capital of Grozny at 0845 local time (0445 GMT) as deputies arrived for work and began the attack, which lasted until government forces stormed the building.
One blew himself up and two others went on the rampage inside, spraying bullets around as they screamed “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”), a Reuters source who spoke to a witness at the parliament building said.
The remaining two attackers holed themselves up on the ground floor and then blew themselves up when forces loyal to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov stormed the building.
“A special operation to destroy the insurgents has taken place,” Kadyrov said in a brief statement. He said that all the deputies and other people inside the building had been freed.
Earlier, Russia’s federal Investigative Committee said four attackers had been killed.
Interfax news agency also reported that the rebels had taken hostages but it was impossible to confirm this.
At least 17 people were injured in the attack, one of the most brazen in Grozny for years. Russia’s leaders are struggling to contain a growing Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, a strip of impoverished, mainly Muslim provinces along predominantly Orthodox Christian Russia’s southern border.
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