Blast wrecks Russian security building

The headquarters building was finished in July

A powerful explosion has severely damaged the headquarters of the Russian security service in a republic neighbouring Chechnya, according to Russian media reports.

Reports suggest at least two people have died and 25 injured in the blast, in the town of Magas in Ingushetia.

Officials are blaming a lorry filled with explosives that was either parked near the building of the Federal Security Service (FSB) or driven up to it by a suicide bomber.

About 100 people would normally have been working in the building when the explosion occuured at noon local time (0800 GMT).

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says no-one has claimed responsibility for this attack, but Russian officials are likely to suspect Chechen rebels.

Pre-election tension

Early reports suggested that three or four people had died, but the figure was later revised downwards to two.

The explosion shattered glass, crumpled cars and blew off part of the roof of the building, which was completed only in July.

It comes as Chechnya prepares for presidential elections on 5 October, which Moscow hopes will lead to a political settlement in the republic.

Separatists from Chechnya, which has suffered years of armed conflict, have vowed to increase attacks in the run-up to the vote.

On 1 August a truck rammed through the gates of a military hospital in Mozdok, in nearby North Ossetia, and exploded killing 50 people.

It is not the first time rebels have targeted the FSB, which was in charge of the military campaign against them until earlier this month.

A suicide bomb attack in May on a government compound in the northern Chechen village of Znamenskoye killed, among others, 10 FSB officers whose local branch was located there.

Magas is a new town a few miles from Nazran. It was recently declared Ingushetia's capital.