Moscow - Chechen rebels killed a leading pro-Russian administrator in a bomb attack on a television studio, claiming their most senior assassination victim since the start of the 18-month separatist war, the Kremlin said yesterday.
Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration chief, Mr Akhmad Kadyrov, immediately blamed the rebel leader, Mr Aslan Maskhadov, for the murder of his deputy, Mr Adam Deniyev, who died from head wounds after the bomb blast late on Thursday.
Mr Deniyev, a well-known member of Chechnya's antiseparatist establishment, was targeted by a rebel explosion at a television studio in Avtury, 30 km south-east of Grozny, where he was giving an interview.
A prominent Islamic theologian, Mr Deniyev was killed live on air while reciting a chapter of the Koran traditionally read by Muslims on Thursday nights, Russian media reported.