Blast Near Home Of Ex-Head Of Russia`s Ingushetia

A blast killed a man outside the house of the former president of Ingushetia in southern Russia on Tuesday, law enforcement sources told Russian news agencies.

There were several explosions followed by machinegun fire outside the house in the capital Nazran of Murat Zyazikov, the former leader of Ingushetia which borders Chechnya in Russia's volatile North Caucasus, Interfax news agency said.

"At the moment in front of the house is a burnt-out car. In the car is a burnt corpse," the law enforcement source said.

The RIA Novosti news agency quoted a source in the law enforcement agencies as saying that Zyazikov was in Moscow at the time of the explosion.

Zyazikov has been the target of assassination attempts in the past. The identity of the corpse in the car was unknown.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last year replaced Zyazikov after violence in Ingushetia rose and locals' frustration with the authorities threatened to boil over.

Russian forces have fought rebels in the North Caucasus since a war in Chechnya in 1994.