NAZRAN, Ingushetia, June 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Chechen fighters attacked overnight government buildings in the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia, killing at least 50 government troops and taking some 20 people hostage.

The fighters, who staged their operation at around 10.40 p.m. (1840 GMT), seized the interior ministry building in the capital Nazran for several hours before pulling out, the Doha-based Aljazeera news channel reported Tuesday, June 22.

The coordinated lightning attacks triggered a fierce overnight battle involving grenade-launchers and automatic weapons as security forces tried to dislodge the fighters from the ministry building.

Witnesses told a Reuters correspondent they had seen the bodies of many police officers in the ministry building.

The Russian RIA Novosti news agency said the acting interior minister, Abukar Kostoyev, and two local prosecutors were among the dead.

This could not immediately be confirmed.

The fighting left the police headquarters in Nazran gutted by fire and several other buildings badly damaged.

Earlier, Yakhya Khadziyev, a spokesman for the Ingushi interior ministry, told Russia’s Interfax news agency the attacks killed 18 policemen and 28 civilians.

He said two Chechen fighters had also been killed.

The fighters also attacked other points in the region, including Karbulak and Sleptsovsk, Reuters added.

They attacked the quarters of a border guard detachment and interior ministry depots.

Estimates of how many fighters were involved varied, with some news reports suggesting a small army of up to 200 people took part.

The operation was one of the biggest such armed attacks in Ingushetia.

The region, whose mainly Muslim people are ethnically close to the Chechens, have on occasions suffered the overspill from the war in Chechnya in isolated attacks and clashes.