Gronzy: A suicide attack on Chechnya's Parliament may have been staged by a shadowy warlord who wants to establish himself as a leader of the Russian region's factionalised Islamist insurgency, officials and analysts said on Wednesday.
Some observers said they believe there could be an escalation of violence as 40-year-old Khusein Gakayev moves to assert his supremacy over the divided rebels.
In the attack, "the goal here is to demonstrate Gakayev's authority”, said Yulia Latynina, a Moscow-based columnist and Caucasus expert.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack by three suicide attackers, who got inside the tightly guarded Parliament complex in the capital, Grozny, as legislators gathered for a session.
The attackers opened fire and blew themselves up, killing two police officers and a parliamentary aide and wounded 17 other people.
Chechnya's Interior Ministry branch told the ITAR-Tass news agency that it believed the attack was planned by Gakayev to boost his credentials among other rebels and their supporters abroad. It did not offer evidence.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, October 21, 2010, 12:41