Kremlin's man wins Chechen poll

Alkhanov has already been marked for death by rebels

Moscow-backed candidate Alu Alkhanov has won presidential elections in Russia's troubled republic of Chechnya.

The electoral commission announced that Mr Alkhanov had received nearly 74% of the vote in the poll against six other candidates, reports said.

Mr Alkhanov, 47, was widely expected to win after his main challenger Malik Saidullayev was barred from standing.

The poll was held to replace pro-Moscow leader Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a bomb attack in May.

Security remained tight days after bomb attacks destroyed two airliners over southern Russia earlier this week.

In the capital, Grozny, a man died in what appears to have been an abortive attempt to bomb a polling station.

Chechnya does not choose the president, Moscow appoints him Isa Chechen refugee

The young man tried to carry an explosive device into the polling station soon after voting began on Sunday, election officials said.

He ran away when challenged by guards, but was killed when his bomb, concealed in a plastic bag, exploded.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports from Gudermes, Chechnya's second city, that there is a sense of holding an election on the front line.

Russian soldiers and pro-Moscow militiamen are everywhere in the city, clutching Kalashnikov assault rifles, while guards at polling stations check voters with metal detectors for bombs.

Chechen separatists have denounced the election as a farce, and says there is no guarantee it will bring peace in Chechnya any closer, our correspondent says.

Voter cynicism

More than 400 polling stations across Chechnya closed at 2000 local time (1600GMT) after 12 hours of voting.

Voters have turned out despite the lack of a real choice

Turnout was more than 79% of the eligible electorate just before the voting ended, easily passing the minimum 30% required by law for the vote to be valid, Chechnya's electoral commission head Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov was quoted as saying by Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.

However, correspondents who had spoken to local people said the mood ranged from cynicism, over a poll boycotted by the separatists, to hope that Mr Alkhanov will be able to restore order.

"I will not go to vote... Chechnya does not choose the president, Moscow appoints him," one woman, who gave her name only as Isa, told Reuters news agency at a Chechen refugee camp in Ingushetia.

In Grozny, a married couple, Zina and Magomed, said they hoped their votes for Mr Alkhanov would "count for something".

"My husband served with Alkhanov in the army," Zina told AFP news agency. "He said he was a very decent person."

Assassination threat

Four of the last five Chechen leaders have been assassinated.

Estimates say there are up to 80,000 Russian troops in Chechnya

Kadyrov was killed on 9 May, when a bomb went off in a stadium in Grozny during a ceremony marking victory in World War II.

His post is the most dangerous job in Russia, according to our correspondent.

The death of Kadyrov robbed Russia's President Vladimir Putin of the man he had counted on to crush the rebels and restore Moscow's control, he says.

The rebels have dismissed the new presidential election as a farce and have vowed to kill Mr Alkhanov, whom they regard as a "Moscow stooge".

Moscow has thrown its weight behind Mr Alkhanov, whose campaign to get elected has dwarfed that of his six rivals, observers say.

President Putin appeared by his side last week to offer flowers at the grave of the former president.

City in fear

Violence has continued unabated in the region.

A raid on Grozny involving more than 200 rebels left an estimated 70 people dead last weekend.

The rebels, some reportedly wearing balaclavas used by police, set up fake checkpoints and shot anyone found to be working for the security forces.

The raid prompted a decree from Mr Alkhanov banning the wearing of all masks.

Reports say many people have left Grozny since the attack.

Returning refugee Aminat Daatova, 47, told AFP that nearly everyone living with her at a hostel in Grozny had fled.

"Everyone is afraid of more rebel strikes," she said. "If I could, I would have left too, but I have nowhere to go."

Meanwhile, Russian investigators are checking reports that Chechen women suicide bombers may have brought down the two airliners which crashed on Tuesday evening after taking off from Moscow, killing 89 people.