Vladikavkaz, Russia ? A woman with explosives strapped to her waist blew herself up in the midst of thousands of Muslim pilgrims Wednesday, killing herself and 13 others in an apparent attempt on the life of Chechnya’s Moscow-backed administrator.

Akhmad Kadyrov escaped unharmed, but at least two of his bodyguards were among more than 100 people wounded in the second deadly bombing in the breakaway republic this week.

On Monday three suicide bombers detonated a truck loaded with explosives outside a government compound in northern Chechnya. The death toll in that attack rose to 59 Wednesday when four more of the injured died. The Russian government blamed Chechen rebels.

Kadyrov criticized the lax security in the republic after Monday’s attack and urged Russian forces to turn over the hunt for rebels to Chechen security agencies.

Wednesday’s bomber was identified as a 46-year-old woman whose husband was allegedly shot to death in 1999. Details of his death — whether it was connected with clashes between Russian troops and Chechen separatists — could not be immediately determined, and the motive for the attack remained unclear.

But officials said she was not alone. A second woman in the crowd was also wearing explosives but she died without detonating her charge, Russia’s state-controlled Channel One said.

The attacks highlight the violence that continues in Chechnya, despite Kremlin claims that the small southern republic is stabilizing and on the path to peace.

“These terror attacks in Chechnya will not thwart the efforts of the Russian leadership to reach a political settlement in Chechnya,” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Wednesday, standing alongside visiting Secretary of State Colin Powell.

A Chechen woman grieves for a relative killed in a bombing attack in the village of Ilaskhan-Yurt. A female suicide bomber blew herself up Wednesday, killing at least 13 others.

The Kremlin has portrayed its 3 1/2-year war in Chechnya as part of the international campaign against terror and has accused foreign terrorist groups of funding rebel attacks and training.

The bombing occurred in Iliskhan-Yurt, a village about 15 miles southeast of the capital, Grozny, where about 10,000 people had gathered Wednesday to mark the birthday of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad.

Russia’s deputy prosecutor, Gen. Sergei Fridinsky, said it was to soon to say the target was Kadyrov, who is hated by rebels for his cooperation with Moscow.

But Russian media left little doubt that was the case, reporting that the women posed as journalists to get closer to Kadyrov.

The two women were less than 65 feet from him at the time of the blast, shortly after Kadyrov finished a prayer service.

“When Kadyrov finished a prayer and people just stood talking, a woman quietly approached the group. An explosion ripped through the air,” Akhmad Abastov, the chief of the Gudermes district was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency.