September 16, 2003	Tuesday	Rajab 18, 1424

NAZRAN (Russia), Sept 15: A suicide bomb blast tore through the regional headquarters of Russia’s FSB security service near Chechnya on Monday, killing at least two people and wounding 25 in the latest such attack ahead of a presidential election in the war-torn republic, media reported.

The attack occurred shortly before noon when a suicide bomber drove a truck laden with between 300 and 800 kilograms of explosives onto the grounds of the FSB regional headquarters in Ingushetia, a republic bordering Chechnya in southern Russia, state Rossiya television reported.

The truck exploded 15 meters away from the three-storey building in the town of Magas, blowing out windows and tearing off much of the roof, it said.

At least two people died and 25 were injured in the attack, according to Russian television and news agencies although emergency officials in Ingushetia told AFP that four people had been killed in the blast.

The building housing the FSB offices had been completed in July and stood next to the presidential palace in the republic, news agencies reported.

Chechen separatists have vowed to increase their attacks on Russian targets ahead of presidential elections in the republic on October 5 that the Kremlin is trying to portray as a landmark event signalling Chechnya’s return to normalcy.

Ingushetia borders Chechnya, where federal troops have been fighting separatists for nearly four years, and houses tens of thousands of Chechen refugees who have fled the fighting.—AFP