A series of suicide-bomber blasts roared out near a giant rock festival in suburban Moscow on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 16 victims and two bombers, Russia’s interior minister said. The festival at the Tushino airfield in northwest Moscow was packed with a crowd reported at up to 40,000 spectators when the first blast went off. Russia’s Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov said suspicions pointed to Chechen rebels and suggested the blasts were connected with the Kremlin’s announcement the previous day that presidential elections would be held in the rebel province in October. Mr Gryzlov said that 16 were killed, not including the bombers, the Interfax news agency reported. There were at least three blasts reported and it was not clear if the third was set off by a suicide-bomber or set off remotely. Interfax and the Itar-Tass news agency both cited unnamed law enforcement sources as saying the first blast took place after guards stopped a woman at the entrance to the festival and she detonated an explosives-packed belt. The locations of the other two blasts were not immediately pinpointed, although some reports said the second one went off at a vast open-air market near the festival site. Police later discovered another explosive device near the entrance to the festival and defused it. Full Story
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