Attack 'targets Chechen leader'

Abramov is not reported to have been injured

An explosion has targeted Chechnya's acting president hours after rebels killed 18 pro-Moscow fighters in overnight clashes, say reports.

Sergei Abramov is said to have survived the attack on his convoy in the Chechen capital on Tuesday. Some reports say a guard died and other people were hurt.

Mr Abramov was prime minister until President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed in an explosion in Grozny in May.

Mr Kadyrov's son Ramzan said he lost 18 men in the earlier fighting.

He told Interfax news agency that his men died in a battle in Chechnya's southern mountains.

Presidential elections to elect a new leader for the troubled region are to be held on 29 August.

Chechnya's rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has vowed that the next president will also be assassinated.

In a statement last week he also said he had enough men and means to fight Russian forces in the region for another 20 years.

Last month, a rebel attack on the neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia killed about 90 people.

Russian press reports say Russia's chief of interior ministry troops, General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, resigned over the attack on 22 June.

On Saturday, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev blamed the ministry's troops for the high number of deaths.

Russia has 70,000 troops and other security forces in Chechnya.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to crush the rebels and says there will be no negotiation with Mr Maskhadov.