Russia ? A suicide bomber badly wounded a provincial president in Russia’s North Caucasus on Monday, an assassination attempt that undermined the Kremlin’s claim that it has brought stability to the predominantly Muslim region.

Yunus Bek Yevkurov was the third top official to be wounded or killed in the last three weeks in the area of southern Russia around Chechnya, which was devastated by two separatist wars in the last 15 years.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Ingushetia province, where Yevkurov has tried to halt violence by Islamic militants.

A car rigged with TNT exploded as the presidential convoy traveled outside the provincial center, Nazran. The blast tore Yevkurov’s armored sedan to pieces and killed two of his bodyguards.

Yevkurov spokesman Kaloi Akhilgov said the president suffered a serious concussion and broken ribs, but that his life was not in danger. Hospital and emergency officials, however, said Yevkurov was in critical condition with burns, brain injuries and damage to internal organs.

Yevkurov’s burnt-out car stood in the grass off the roadside, its windows shattered, its wheels missing and most of its front end destroyed. Shrapnel was scattered for hundreds of yards and there was blood on the ground in several places. Two roadside houses had their roofs damaged and their windows shattered.

Russia’s chief prosecutor said Yevkurov was most likely targeted by militants or local criminal clans angry about his crackdown on corruption.

Rebels have felt increasingly cornered under Yevkurov, a former military intelligence officer who was named president in October as the Kremlin sought to bring a measure of stability to Ingushetia. The province had been plunged into violence under the previous leader, former KGB officer Murat Zyazikov.