A total of 13 people were killed when a military barracks collapsed in Russia's turbulent Chechnya region on Tuesday, Russian officials said today, describing the incident as a domestic gas explosion.
But Chechen rebels said in a statement posted on separatist Web site www.kavkazcentre.com that they were behind the blast. The statement said 43 people were killed and 60 injured.
Both sides give vastly contradictory accounts of events in the region, with rights groups accusing both Russian forces and Chechen rebels of underreporting casualties in the conflict.
Valery Kuznetsov, a top justice official in Chechnya, was quoted by RIA news agency as saying 22 others were also injured when the two-storey building at Kurchaloi, about 100 km (60 miles) from the regional capital of Grozny, came down following the blast.
"We have now finished recovering dead and injured from the ruins. The figures we now have are the final ones," Kuznetsov said.
Asked if the explosion could have been caused by a Chechen separatist bomb, Kuznetsov said nothing could be ruled out, but other officials made clear it appeared to be the result of a gas explosion.
"Knowing that it was caused by a gas explosion does not make it any easier for the relatives of the dead," said Chechen President Alu Alkhanov in televised remarks.
Soldiers helped emergency services well into the night to remove chunks of rubble trapping colleagues.
A fire that followed the explosion was brought under control. The scene of the blast was cordoned off.