MOSCOW, Nov 8: Masked men in military fatigues blew up the family home of one of 50 Chechens killed after they seized a Moscow theatre and held hundreds of people hostage last month, Russian media said on Friday.

The group of heavily-armed men arrived on Thursday at the home of one of several young female guerillas who took part in the theatre siege. They evacuated two women and two children from the house before the blast.

There was no acknowledgement from Russian army that it was involved in the demolition in the village of Achkoi-Martan, southwest of Grozny, capital of the turbulent Caucasus republic of Chechnya.

But the incident recalled tactics employed by Israel, which has demolished homes of families of militants who have carried out suicide bombings against the Jewish state.

“Whoever did this — Russian troops or rebels — this is first and foremost a crime against the unfortunate people who live there,” said Aslanbek Aslakhanov, the deputy who represents Chechnya in the Russian parliament.

In a cautious statement, Kremlin human rights commissioner Oleg Mironov said: “The blasting of a house...leaves a problematic impression and clearly has a political message.

“Such a terrible response to a terrorist act tells us that people have lost patience and want a peaceful life,” Mironov said in the statement quoted by Interfax news agency.

The theatre siege brought Chechnya back onto the Russian political agenda. It ended when Russian forces stormed the building, but some 128 hostages died, most of them from gas used by the troops to immobilise the guerrillas.

President Vladimir Putin has since called for “new approaches” to deal with security challenges and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has announced tough new measures to rein in rebels in Chechnya.

But Putin warned last week that all operations in the region should be “well-directed and targeted”, a clear condemnation of the massive use of force and brutal sweep operations condemned by Western governments and human rights monitors.

Rights group Amnesty International urged the European Union on Friday to confront Putin over the issue at a Brussels summit scheduled for November 11.

Moscow, which has been fighting separatists in the Caucasus for the best part of a decade, says it controls Chechnya after a second military onslaught launched in October 1999. But troops and pro-Moscow officials are targeted by rebels almost daily.

A Russian servicemen was killed and three were injured late on Thursday when their car hit a mine in the Achkoi-Martan region, Interfax said.—Reuters