Gunmen stormed Chechnya's parliament building today in Grozny, killing three people and injuring at least 17, in the latest audacious military operation by the region's rejuvenated Islamist underground.

One insurgent detonated a bomb outside the gates at 8.45am local time, killing himself and wounding others. Two more gunmen then ran into the building shouting, "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is great" in Arabic) and opening fire, Chechen officials said.

According to Russia's interior minister, Rashid Nurgaliyev, the militants tried to enter the main parliamentary hall, where several deputies were meeting. Unable to do so, the gunmen barricaded themselves in the ground floor of the parliament and eventually blew themselves up, officials said.

All the attackers were killed. Two police officers and a civilian also died. There was a grim scene around the building, with body parts and a decapitated corpse strewn next to shattered glass on the ground.

Nurgaliyev, who was in Chechnya's capital, described the assault as "extremely rare".

"Here there is stability and security," he said, repeating Kremlin claims that Chechnya, run by the pro-Moscow president, Ramzan Kadyrov, was firmly under government control.

The attack can been seen as further evidence of the insurgents' growing capacity to strike at high-profile targets linked to Kadyrov and his regime. The insurgency by Islamist rebels has grown over the past three years, with daily bombings and shootouts between militants and security forces.

The rebels are fighting to establish an Islamic emirate across Russia's northern Caucasus. The centre of the violence has shifted to the neighbouring Muslim republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia. But the situation in Chechnya remains highly volatile, despite assertions that the country is now peaceful after brutal wars in 1994-1996 and 1999-2005.

"The timing and target of this latest attack is very interesting. It really underlines the weakness of Kadyrov. We are seeing well-co-ordinated assaults on the symbols of power inside Chechnya," said Dr Cerwyn Moore, an expert in north Caucasus political violence at Birmingham University.

A schism this summer in the insurgents' hierarchy may have contributed to the recent escalation in violence, he added.

Last week the rebel leader Doku Umarov ordered a number of commanders to renew their oath of allegiance to him. "One [anti-Umarov] faction could be demonstrating its ability to carry out attacks in Chechnya proper," Moore said of today's assault.

In recent months the rebels have staged a number of spectacular attacks. In March, two female suicide bombers from Dagestan attacked the Moscow metro, killing 40 people. In August, rebels stormed the home village of Kadyrov, seizing several buildings. Last month 17 people were killed when a suicide car bomb exploded in Vladikavkaz, capital of predominantly Christian North Ossetia.

The rebel website kavkavcenter.com today/last night mocked claims by Kadyrov that he had taken personal charge of the special operation to wipe out the militants.

It said four mujahideen had seized Chechnya's 'marionette' parliament and had held out against government forces for up to an hour before being 'martyred'.

Speaking at a parliamentary session after today's attack, Kadyrov blamed Britain and other European countries for the ongoing violence in Chechnya. He lambasted Britain for failing to extradite Akhmed Zakayev, the Chechen separatist leader who has political asylum in London. Zakayev was briefly arrested last month in Warsaw while attending a meeting of the Chechen diaspora. Russia today renewed an Interpol warrant for his arrest.

"The authorities and special services of London and Warsaw are protecting bandits who killed people and committed crimes on the territory of Chechnya. Where's democracy? Where's democracy?" Kadyrov asked. He also suggested Zakayev would be punished, regardless of whether Russia's attempts to extradite him succeed.

"If they don't respect us, we will make them do so. They are barring me, a politician and a law-abiding citizen, from Europe, but they are at the same time covering Zakayev, who is suspected of terrorism."