6 killed, 10 wounded in suicide bomb attack in Chechnya

A suicide bomber killed six people and himself, wounding at least 10 others Sunday in the capital of violence-plagued Chechnya, officials said.

The regional Emergency Ministry said the attacker tried to enter a concert hall minutes before the start of a play, AFP writes. The ministry said four police officers stopped the attacker about 40 meters from the hall and died in the explosion.

The Interior Ministry said at least 10 civilians were wounded, and almost 800 spectators were evacuated from the hall. Two of the wounded, a Turkish construction manager and a Georgian national, died in hospital, the ministry said.

Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov said the attack will not stop the eradication of militants in the province.

"This is an agony of the bandits," RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying. "They have no human face, no morals, nothing. They are not human."

Despite the end of large-scale fighting in Chechnya, the North Caucasus has been increasingly roiled by shootings and kidnappings linked to Islamist insurgents, criminal elements and ethnic feuds.

Chechnya and surrounding provinces in Russia's North Caucasus region are beset by daily shootings, bombings and other acts of violence that persist after two wars between Chechen rebels and government forces.

Also Sunday, four militants were found dead after an explosion in the province of Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya to the west.