Moscow  - At least five people were killed in a suicide bombing in the capital of the strife-torn Russian republic of Chechnya on Sunday, the Interfax news agency reported, citing government officials.

The bomber detonated himself near a group of policemen standing by a concert hall in the capital Grozny. The dead included three policemen, a passerby and the bomber, reported Interfax.

Chechnya, along with the other Caucasian republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan have been the scenes of ever more regular violence in recent months, with regular attacks, and often deadly, attacks on government officials and police officers.

Also recently, unknown assailants kidnapped human rights activist Natalya Estemirova from in front of her home in Grozny on July 15 and left her dead on a highway in Ingushetia.  (dpa)