A man has blown himself up at the entrance to Abkhazia television headquarters in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi. It is a small separatist region recognised by Russia, announced on Monday the so-called Abkhazian Minister of Internal Affairs, cited by the news agency RIA Novosti, according to AFP.

"On the territory of the television exploded. Clearly it was evident that he had a bomb with shrapnel. Likely that he was not alone. Conducted operational work. Work of all power structures of Abkhazia", states the alleged Minister of Internal Affairs, Aslan Kobakhia, reports Agerpres.

According to him the explosion occurred around 7:05 a.m. The identity of the bomber remains unknown.

Interfax news cited the separatist region’s emergency services ministry as saying the “corpse of a bearded man” was found at the scene.

Abkhazia has claimed independence from Georgia since an armed conflict in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia recognised the region as independent from Georgia following a brief conflict in 2008 over another breakaway region of South Ossetia and has thousands of troops stationed there. Georgia insists that the two regions are under de facto Russian occupation.