Deadly suicide bombing in Chechnya targeted holiday celebrations

MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber targeted a holiday concert in the Chechen capital of Grozny on Sunday, killing five police officers and wounding 12 others.

The 19-year-old bomber, identified as Apti Mudarov, was attempting to enter the concert but was stopped at a security checkpoint near the entrance on Isayev Avenue around 5 p.m. local time, officials said.

Security was tight in Grozny on Sunday as people gathered for City Day celebrations, marking the founding of Chechnya's capital, World Teachers' Day, Youth Day and Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival known as the the Feast of Sacrifice.

"An illegitimate bandit with a gun introduced himself as a police serviceman at a checkpoint and tried to walk to the square where a range of holidays was being celebrated," President Ramzan A. Kadyrov said in a statement. The Kremlin-backed president commended the police for stopping the bomber, noting they "prevented numerous potential victims among the civilian population."

Kadyrov blamed Islamic extremists for the attack. "The Wahhabists wanted to show that they exist ... And we will prove that they should not be in Chechnya or in any other place. We will eliminate them anywhere they are."