A Russian human rights group says Chechen security officers have kidnapped the head of a rights group in Moscow and flown him to Grozny, Chechnya's capital.

The Memorial group said Arbi Khachukayev, who heads Law, an organisation critical of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader, was detained on Thursday and bundled onto a flight.

Chechnya's interior minister said Khachukayev was detained for alleged involvement in an armed assault, the RIA news agency reported.

Human rights groups have been critical of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader. The Law group has exposed alleged human rights abuses committed by forces loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen president.

Svetlana Gannushinka, a human rights worker, told Britain's Guardian newspaper it was "not clear whether he's [Khachukayev] a hostage or a defendant." "As soon as I found out about his kidnapping I faxed the office of the interior ministry at Vnukovo airport. They didn't answer," she said.

Ongoing attacks against human rights activists has led Memorial and other human rights organisations to suspend their operations in Chechnya.

Last month, a Moscow court ordered Oleg Orlov, head of Memorial, to retract his accusation that Kadyrov was responsible for Estemirova's death.

Agencies