MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Negligence charges have been brought against senior police officials in the south Russian republic of Ingushetia in the wake of a suicide bombing early this week, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.

"Criminal charges were brought against Ingush Interior Ministry officials accused of performing their duties improperly and carelessly," the prosecutors' Investigation Committee said in a statement.

President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the republic's interior minister earlier this week and ordered a probe into the police force's performance in the republic, which has been plagued by militant violence in recent months.

At least 24 people were killed and 136 injured on Monday, when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden minivan into the gates of the police headquarters in Nazran. The attack was the deadliest in several years in the province.

The republic shares a border with Chechnya, which saw two brutal separatist wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s.