At least 32 people were killed and dozens injured yesterday in blasts at the government headquarters in Grozny, capital of the rebellious Russian province of Chechnya, the Russian Interfax news agency reported.
Two huge explosions went off within a minute of each other, devastating the five-storey government building, Russia's NTV television said.
The head of the pro-Russian administration in Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, was not hurt in the attack, which Russian news agencies said had been carried out by suicide bombers.
Television pictures showed stunned people drenched in blood stumbling out of the wreckage, helped by Russian soldiers and civilians. Debris was strewn over a large area and cars parked nearby were smashed and gutted.
Two vehicles packed with explosives -- a truck and an off-road vehicle -- rammed through protective barriers around the building, RIA news agency quoted Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Tsakayev as saying.
Footage broadcast by Russian television showed the building, one of the few to have been rebuilt after Russian troops seized the capital in 2000 and one of the city's most heavily guarded, completely wrecked by the attack.
The attack bore all the hallmarks of the guerrillas who have been fighting to free Chechnya, in southern Russia's Caucasus region, from Moscow's rule for almost decade.
In late October Chechen rebels occupied a Moscow theater, taking hundreds of civilians hostage.
A total of 128 hostages and all 41 rebels were killed when special forces stormed the theatre after three days, ending a siege that traumatized Russia and shook President Vladimir Putin, who came to power vowing to crush the rebels.
Russian forces have been fighting the separatist guerrillas on and off since 1994.
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