ROSTOV-ON-DON: A suicide bomber killed five people and wounded a number of others Sunday in the capital of violence-plagued Chechnya, officials and news reports said.

The regional Emergency Ministry said the attacker approached a crowd near a concert hall minutes before the start of a play. It said four policemen died trying to prevent the bomber from entering the hall.

The ITAR-TASS news agency reported that at least 20 people were wounded. Almost 800 spectators who were inside the hall were evacuated, the agency said.

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

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

The regional interior ministry said a makeshift bomb exploded early Sunday in a car in the Nazran district killing the four passengers aboard, including a member of a militant group previously convicted for illegal arms possession.

The province’s Kremlin-appointed president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was critically wounded in a bombing last month. — AP