A small group of Islamists stormed the Chechen Parliament Building in Grozny this morning. At least six people are dead.
The AP reported on the mysterious insurgents.
Insurgents stormed the parliament complex in Russia’s volatile Chechnya region on Tuesday, killing at least two 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 Ramzan Bekkhoyev told The Associated Press.
At least two other gunmen ran into the building shouting “Allahu Akbar!” — “God is great!” in Arabic — as they opened fire on the people inside, Bekkhoyev said.
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.
The Islamist website KavKaz Center has a report on the attack. They report that a martyr bomber first detonated an explosive device, and then a Mujahid squad of three men broke into the building.