Ukraine in Arabic | Suicide bombing in Chechnya killed 5 police
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ A suicide bomber has blown himself up in the Chechen capital Grozny, also killing five police officers and wounding at least 12 other people.
The site of two separatist wars and a festering Islamic insurgency, Chechnya has seen a period of relative calm under the strong-arm rule of Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and suicide bombings have been a rare occurrence in recent years.
The attacker was believed to be a 19-year-old resident of Chechnya Opti Mudarov who disappeared from home two months ago. The attack took place at the entrance to a concert hall where festivities were planned to celebrate Grozny's city day holiday, which is also Kadyrov's birthday.
The bomber triggered the explosives after police tried to inspect the man's identity papers, a Russian Interior Ministry said.
"Police officers who were manning metal detectors at the entrance of the concert hall noticed a suspicious young man. When the police officers decided to check the individual, the man blew himself up," a local police officer told.
Kadyrov said that the suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform and presented police identification when he tried to go through metal detectors set up outside the concert hall.
When police moved to stop him, he detonated the explosives, Kadyrov said.
Several ambulances were seen leaving the site, which was blocked off by police.
The attack is the first major act of violence since the death of insurgent leader Doku Umarov who was killed in a clampdown during Russia's hosting of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, on the western edge of the Caucasus Mountains.
