Five dead in Chechnya bombing

Russian police said a suicide bomber blew himself up in Grozny on Sunday evening during local celebrations to mark the City Day holiday and the birthday of Chechnya's pro-Kremlin leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.

According to a police statement, officers had been using metal detectors outside a concert hall when they noticed a "suspicious young man."

"When the police officers decided to check the individual, the man blew himself up," a local officer told RIA news agency. Five of the policemen were killed and twelve others were injured, news agencies said. There were no reports of civilian casualties.

A statement from the Russian interior ministry said police had "foiled an attack" to bomb the hall where thousands of people had gathered to see a performance.

Chechnya has become more stable in recent years under Kadyrov's strong-arm rule, after going through two separatist wars in the 1990s. However the republic is still plagued by a Muslim insurgency and sporadic fighting in the mountains and southern regions.

nm/kms (AP, AFP, Reuters)