Akhmed Dzheirkhanov, deputy minister for emergency situations in Chechnya, said four people had died overnight as a result of injuries sustained in Monday's blast.

Senior officials of the Nadterechny region of northern Chechnya were holding a regular morning meeting in the government headquarters in Znamenskoye, when suicide bombers drove a truck loaded with about a ton of explosives into the complex Monday.

This was the second major terrorist attack against a government installation since a similar event took place on Dec. 27, when 80 people were killed in a "vehicle explosion" at the headquarters of Chechnya's administration in Grozny.

Unlike Grozny, where rebel attacks against Russian troops, Chechen police and civilians have become a common occurrence, Nadterechny had always been regarded as a rather tranquil place.

Russian media reports have quoted Akhmad Kadyrov, head of the Moscow-backed Chechen administration, as saying the attack appeared to be the work of separatist rebels.

But rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has denied responsibility for the attack.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2003)