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The crime was committed in the village of Znamenskoye of the Nadterechny District. At 10 a.m. Moscow time three terrorists driving a KamAZ truck loaded with explosives tried to ram the building of the District Administration and the local FSB office. The truck was stopped 30 meters from the concrete wall protecting the entrances to the building and the suicide bombers set off an explosion with a force equivalent to over one ton of TNT. Preliminary data say about 45 people, most of them civilians, died in the attack and about 300 were injured.

The terrorist attack was aimed at disrupting the political settlement in Chechnya, but Russia would not tolerate it, the President said. He pledged commitment to the plan of normalising the situation in the region and directed the Russian Government to speed up the drafting of the treaty on the delimitation of jurisdictions and powers between the federal and republican authorities.

Vladimir Putin signed an executive order forming a task force to accelerate the drafting of the document. The task force will include representatives of the federal bodies of power and the power bodies of Chechnya, local government, non-governmental and religious organisations in the Republic. The task force is to submit its proposals regarding the draft treaty to the Russian President before October 1, 2003.

The Cabinet meeting also considered other aspects of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. The head of state asked Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to provide information on topical international issues. The President said that he will hold a meeting with the leadership of the State Duma tomorrow to discuss foreign policy.