At least 12 people were killed and some 60 others injured Monday morning in the bombing of the building of the city Interior Department in central Nazran, regional capital of Russia's turbulent North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.

"At about 9:00 a.m. Moscow time (0500 GMT) a suicide bomber driving a Gazelle rammed the gate of the City Interior Department, drove into the courtyard and activated the bomb in his vehicle," the Interfax news agency reported, citing an unnamed source from the republic's Interior Ministry.

Svetlana Gorbakova, a spokeswoman for the regional Investigation Committee, said that "12 people were killed as a result of the explosion. Another 58 people, including nine children, sustained various injuries."

The RIA Novosti news agency said the number of injured was at least 65.

The powerful bomb was estimated to be equivalent to no less than 50 kg of TNT, said a source from the republic's Interior Ministry.

Acting Ingush leader Rashid Gaisanov claimed the blast was a terrorist attack.

More than five fire-fighting squads were trying to put out the blaze in the building following the explosion, and rescuers were evacuating the staff of the Interior Department still inside the building.

In April, the Kremlin formally ended an anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya, which has experienced two bloody wars in the past 15 years.

Chechnya, along with its neighboring republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia, has seen a rise in violence in recent months, with attacks on police, troops and authorities being reported almost daily.

Ingush Construction Minister Ruslan Amerkhanov was shot dead in his office last week. The leader of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, was injured in an assassination attempt in June.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2009)