Two officers of Federal Penitentiary Service killed in blast

Moscow, Dec 18 (UNI) Two people were killed and four wounded in an explosion of a Gazel vehicle in the Leninsky district of Grozny today.

One officer of Chechnya's Federal Penitentiary Service died on the scene and five more people were wounded, a source with the Chechen Interior Ministry told Interfax.

Later, a source with the Grozny Hospital No 9 told Interfax that another officer of the Federal Penitentiary Service, who was wounded in the blast, died as he was being operated on.

The Gazel vehicle was carrying detainees to a court, the Head of the Chechen Interior Ministry's headquarters Col Akhmed Dakayev told Interfax.

''The car travelled less than 300 meters, when the explosion happened, near a bridge across the Sunzha river,'' the Colonel said.

''None of the detainees were wounded. Swift measures were taken and we managed to return them to a pre-trial detention facility,'' he added.

The officer did not name the detainees and refused to say what charges were being brought against them.

According to preliminary information, the explosive was planted near a tree on the road's verge.

''An investigative group is still working at the scene. Traffic across the bridge and Starosunzhenskaya street was stopped," Col Dakayev said.

UNI