Officials killed in Chechnya

Russian officials in Chechnya say unidentified attackers have killed the head of the local administration and his assistant in the village of Mesker-Yurt.

Investigators have gone to the scene, 20 kilometres east of the Chechen capital, Grozny.

A Russian spokesman said the pro-Russian administrator, Sharami Dudagov, and his assistant, Khasmagomed Tsumtsayev, had been killed during the night in their own homes.

No other details of the incident were known.

Last week a pro-Russian administrator in a district south-west of Grozny, was shot dead in his office.

The Russians blame pro-independence rebels.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service