The supreme Islamic court in Chechnya has called for parliament to be suspended and to be replaced instead by a state council made up of former rebel field commanders.

It said the parliament did not conform to Sharia law and should be disbanded within three months.

The Russian news agency, Interfax, said the ruling upheld a challenge by several field commanders against the Chechen president, Aslan Maskhadov, who had accused him of violating the constitution.

The move comes just over a week after the Chechen vice-president, Vakha Arsanov, called for the introduction of Sharia law throughout the republic.

Correspondents say the ruling is a sign of the growing power struggle between those who want to tread a moderate path to Chechnya's independence and those who want to pursue a more radical and isolationist path.