The government today called for peaceful dialogue to resolve the conflict in Chechnya following a bomb attack that killed pro-Kremlin leader Akhmad Kadyrov and 31 others.

Malaysia currently chairs the world's biggest grouping of Muslim states, the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries.

"By taking an approach which involved many deaths (and) slaughters, do we achieve something which stabilises the situation and brings us towards a fair political solution? I don't think so," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the official Bernama news agency.

"There is a need for a dialogue to obtain a solution for all in the region."

The blast Sunday tore through a packed stadium in Grozny as the mainly-Muslim republic's top brass were watching a concert marking Victory Day celebrations commemorating the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany.

The blast came two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin was sworn in to a second four-year term in office, and dealt a grave blow to his effort to establish control over the separatist republic.

The Russian leader angrily vowed to exact revenge on Chechnya's separatist rebels even though there was no initial claim of responsibility for the attack. - AFP