Chechnya's pro-Kremlin leader Akhmad Kadyrov was killed on Sunday along with at least 31 others in a bomb attack which dealt a grave blow to President Vladimir Putin's efforts to establish control over the republic.
The blast, which came just two days after Putin was sworn in to a second four-year term in office, tore through a parade tribune at a packed stadium in the capital as the republic's top brass and spectators were watching a concert marking Victory Day celebrations commemorating the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany.
Russia's top general in the region was reported to have been seriously injured in the blast. Officials said his leg was amputated and he remained in grave condition in a Grozny hospital.
Putin vowed to exact revenge on the rebels although there was no initial claim of responsibility for the attack.
It came only minutes after Putin oversaw a grand military parade on Moscow's Red Square and appeared timed exactly to coincide with the holiday and show the public the four-year conflict in Chechnya was far from over.
Putin confirmed that Kadyrov--who had been the target of several previous assassination attempts--had been killed in the attack.
"Kadyrov passed away on May 9 on the day of our national holiday, Victory Day," Putin said while meeting with Kadyrov's son Ramzan who heads Chechen security forces. "This was a real, heroic man."
Putin appointed Chechen prime minister Sergei Abramov--whose influence in the region appears limited--to temporarily head the republic. "I know that you have good ties with the security forces in the republic," Putin told Abramov, who replied that he planned "to finish ... what Kadyrov started."
In total, at least 32 people were killed, including Reuters photo correspondent Adlan Khasanov, and 46 others were injured, the Chechen interior ministry said.
The explosion occurred while well-known Chechen artiste Tamara Dadasheva was performing on stage, eye witnesses said. The blast, which ripped off her leg, caused screams of horror and a rush for the exits.
The bomb appeared to have been planted just below the VIP section of the stadium, where Kadyrov and Baranov had been sitting.
Chechen interior ministry officials said the stadium had been searched meticulously before Sunday's performance but that the bomb had been carefully hidden in a block of concrete.
Two more unexploded bombs had been found in the stadium after the attack, they said.
The impact of the blast hit Kadyrov and the stadium's front seats, where veterans and artistes were sitting, one witness told AFP.
"During the explosion, Kadyrov was hit in the head, shoulders and legs," Chechen interior ministry spokesman Tauz Dzhabrailov, who was himself injured in the attack, told AFP. He said Kadyrov had been seen wiping away blood from his forehead as he was carried away to hospital.
The explosion, which injured at least one child, was followed by a round of gunshots but it was not clear where they came from.
The attack was quickly condemned by the Council of Europe, which said that such incidents must be "universally deplored."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana condemned the "terrorist attack," while the European Commission underlined its "condemnation of all forms of terrorism regardless of its alleged motives. "This heinous attack illustrates the need to further improve international co-ordination against terrorism world-wide," it said in a statement.
Putin reacted quickly and angrily, warning that retaliation was "inevitable" against the "terrorists" who set off the bomb in Grozny.
Kadyrov represented Russia's great hope of finally stamping its control on the region and proving to the world - and voters - its claim that calm has returned to Chechnya after a decade of violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Kadyrov, 52, was a one-time Muslim cleric who won a landslide victory in Chechnya's highly controversial presidential election in October 2003.
During the first war between Russian troops and Chechen separatists in 1994-96, Kadyrov fought with the freedom fighters. Appointed a mufti in 1995, he called for a jihad, or holy war, against Russia.
But he later toned down his religious views and when Russia launched the second war against Chechens in October 1999, Kadyrov sided with Moscow.
His recent anti-Islamist stance had earned him respect among ordinary Chechens, who have become disenchanted with their elected leaders, and several warlords had pledged allegiance to him.