At least two people died on Tuesday morning when militants launched an attack on the parliament of Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya.

“A vehicle carrying terrorists drove in with cars carrying lawmakers. One of them blew himself up and the other two headed toward parliament,” a police source told RIA Novosti.

The source said that parliament has been evacuated and a special operation, headed by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, is underway to flush out the militants.

      This is the second serious terrorist incident in Chechnya in recent months. In August, a suicide squad launched a massive attack on Kadyrov’s home village of Tsentroi.

      Chechnya, which saw two brutal separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, has seen relative calm in recent years under Kadyrov, a former militant turned Kremlin ally whom critics have accused of human rights abuses.

       GROZNY, October 19 (RIA Novosti)