Chechen President hurt in victory day blast
Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov was among 10 people hurt today when a landmine exploded during Victory Day celebrations in a stadium in the capital Grozny.
A senior military commander, Colonel General Valery Baranov, head of the Joint Army Command of the North Caucasus, was also hurt.
The explosion happened underneath a VIP-seating area during a ceremony in the Dynamo stadium attended by senior Chechen officials.
Sergei Kozhemyaka, duty officer at the emergency situations ministry in southern Russia, said the landmine injured Kadyrov, the Moscow-backed leader of the rebel region.
The stadium was quickly evacuated. Kozhemyaka said that a second mine was found near the VIP seats.
Echo of Moscow radio reported that a number of people were detained.
Russia marks the Allied victory over the Nazis every May 9 with military parades and fireworks around the country.
Security was especially tight across Russia. In 2002, a bomb exploded during a Victory Day parade in the Caspian Sea port of Kaspiisk, killing 43 people, including 12 children.
Russian troops have been fighting Chechen rebels from much of the last decade.
The latest war began in September 1999. Despite superior numbers and firepower, Russian troops have been unable to uproot the rebels from their mountainous hideouts or banish them entirely from Grozny.
