GROZNY, Russia, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The death toll from a militant attack on the Chechen Parliament Tuesday rose to six, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov identified the dead as three militants, two police officers and a parliamentary administrative manager, RIA Novosti reported.
One of the dead militants was a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives as other insurgents headed toward parliament, he said.
Investigators said 17 people, including six police officers, were injured. The building was evacuated and Kadyrov-led forces started to flush out the militants.
Police said the attack began when a vehicle carrying terrorists arrived at the government building mixed in with other vehicles carrying lawmakers.
"A vehicle carrying terrorists drove in with cars carrying lawmakers. One of them blew himself up and the other two headed toward parliament," the source told the Russian news agency.
The New York Times, citing unidentified Russian news reports, said the militants entered the building and began shooting near the office of Parliament speaker Dujuvakha Adurakhmanov, who reportedly survived, and may have taken hostages.
There were also reports the Agriculture Ministry was attacked.
Chechnya went through two separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s.
