GROZNY, Russia —

A bomb attack on a security checkpoint in Russia’s restive Chechnya province killed five policemen, just days ahead of Dmitry Medvedev’s inauguration as new president, police said Monday.
The attack occurred just outside the capital Grozny on Sunday, the latest blow to a fragile peace established under Medvedev’s mentor, President Vladimir Putin.

“Five interior ministry personnel were killed as a result of an explosion,” said Ramzan Edilov, head of the police department of Staropromyslovsky district.

“According to provisional information, the device was home-made, as nuts, bolts and ball bearings were found at the scene,” Edilov said.

“The search for the criminals is underway, they will be found and liquidated,” he said.

Another policeman died Sunday from gunshot wounds after two police jeeps came under automatic weapon fire on the outskirts of the capital, Russian news agencies reported, citing unidentified police sources.

The suppression of Chechen separatists rebels has been touted as one of the main achievements of the eight-year government of Putin, who launched the second Chechen war in 1999.

The first war, launched against pro-independence rebels by President Boris Yeltsin in 1994, was widely regarded as a black spot on the latter’s presidency.

In all, an estimated 100,000 civilians and 10,000 Russian soldiers were killed in the two wars.

A huge wave of rebuilding has taken place in Chechnya under the Kremlin-backed local administration head Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel, as Moscow pumped in money to consolidate its achievement.

But in recent months cracks have begun to appear in the new order.

Kadyrov last month ordered his forces to hunt the brother of a rival pro-Moscow commander, escalating a rift between security forces that climaxed with a road-side shoot-out.

Two weeks ago a local police chief was kidnapped and shot dead in a forest near Grozny.

AFP

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