Rescuers are still coming the rubble of a Russian military hospital for survivors after a suspected Chechen drove a truck bomb into it yesterday, killing at least 35 people.
Only part of one wall of the four-storey hospital was left standing and surrounding buildings were gutted. Television footage showed workers passing rubble along human chains, and the exact death toll was uncertain as many were believed buried.
Witnesses said an explosives-packed truck driven by a single man smashed through the hospital gates in the Caucasus town of Mozdok late yesterday, before exploding and bringing most of the building on top of itself.
It was the bloodiest Chechen attack since May and the deadliest outside rebel Chechnya itself since October, when rebels took a Moscow theatre hostage and 129 people died when security forces stormed the building.
Mozdok in North Ossetia, which borders Chechnya, is the site of one of Russia's most important military bases in the Caucasus, and President Vladimir Putin demanded an explanation of how rebels managed to enter it.
Chechnya is gearing up for an October 5th election to choose a president - a key event in the Kremlin's plans to restore peace - but rebels reject the plan, and vow to fight on.
The attack was the latest in an increasing number of attacks outside Chechnya itself. Two woman suicide bombers blew themselves up last month at a open-air rock festival in Moscow, killing 15 spectators - the first time the Chechen war had come to the capital since the October theatre siege.