Bomb kills Putin's top man in rebel Chechnya

Russian President Vladimir Putin's top man in Chechnya was assassinated in a bomb attack yesterday that killed at least five others and dealt a huge blow to the Kremlin leader's plans to stamp out rebellion there.

Moscow's senior soldier in the rebel province was also fighting for his life after being seriously wounded by the blast that tore through the VIP section of a stadium where dignitaries were gathered to celebrate the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany.

After conflicting reports of the death toll, Russian news agencies said six people, including an eight-year-old girl, had been killed and more than 50 people injured.

The attack, staged on Russia's most solemn day, soured the atmosphere of the Victory Day weekend which kicked off on Friday with Mr Putin's inauguration for a second four-year term.

Mr Putin himself announced the death of Akhmad Kadyrov, president of the region and a key player in Kremlin plans to crush the bloody separatist rebellion.

"Kadyrov passed away on May 9 on the day of our national holiday," a shaken-looking Putin said standing alongside Mr Kadyrov's son, Ramzan, in the Kremlin.

Reuters journalist Adlan Khasanov, who was covering the event, was among those killed, his brother said. Mr Khasanov, 33, had worked as both a Reuters photographer and television cameraman since the late 1990s, mostly in his native Chechnya.

Mr Kadyrov's close aide Hussein Isayev and two of Mr Kadyrov's bodyguards were also killed, said Interfax news agency, quoting Vladimir Yakovlev, Mr Putin's envoy in southern Russia.

The attack drew immediate condemnation from abroad. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called Putin and told him terrorism should be fought with the instruments of the rule of law and international cooperation.

The European Commission said the attack showed the need to improve international coordination against terrorism worldwide.

The United States condemned the attack. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "The United States resolutely rejects all acts of terrorism and those who commit them."

The attack on the top-security event attended by military and political officials was one of the most audacious on Russian forces and the administration in mainly-Muslim Chechnya since Russian troops reoccupied the area in 1999.

"The bomb was placed inside a concrete part of the stadium," said Khamid Kadayev, Chechnya's deputy interior minister, speaking on television from the scene of the blast.

He said this meant it escaped detection in security sweeps. He did not say how the bomb could have been smuggled in, but reconstruction work had been going on at the stadium.

The commander of Russian forces in the region, General Valery Baranov, was among many injured. One of his legs was torn off in the blast and he was in critical condition undergoing surgery, Interfax news agency said.

Colonel-General Mikhail Pankov, deputy head of Chechnya's interior ministry, was appointed as his acting replacement.

Interior Ministry officials said an artillery shell, primed to explode, had also been found in a neighbouring stand.