GROZNY. May 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Over 20 people were killed in a new terrorist attack in Chechnya's Gudermes district on Wednesday, when a female suicide bomber apparently attempted to kill Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen administration, an official with the Chechen Security Council Magomed Mamakayev has told the press.
Deputy Prime Minister Movsar Khamidov earlier told Interfax that 12 people were killed and several dozen wounded, and that about a dozen people who had suffered injuries were moved to the nearest hospitals.
Shamsail Saralieyv, Kadyrov's advisor, told Interfax that the terrorist attack was carried out on Wednesday in the village of Iliskhan-Yurt, where several thousand people had gathered for a religious festival
He said the terrorist attack was presumably carried out by a female suicide bomber. Most of the victims were elderly people who had arrived for the festival.
Kadyrov, who took part in the festival, was not injured, Saraliyev said, adding that it has not been established yet whether other officials have suffered.
Khamidov told Interfax that "the woman ran up to the crowd and blew herself up when a prayer was being read."
According to Saraliyev, Chechen Interior Minister Alu Alkhanov and a team of policemen are working at the scene and trying to identify and catch those associated with the suicide bomber.
The wounded are being moved to hospitals in the Kurchaloi and Gudermes districts. The other participants in the festival are hastily leaving the area by car.
Vladimir Kravchenko, the prosecutor for Chechnya, told Interfax by telephone that the terrorist attack took place on the outskirts of the village at about 3:00 p.m. Moscow time (1100 GMT) on Wednesday and that several people had been killed or wounded.
"The female suicide bomber used a so-called shahid belt," Kravchenko said.
He said he and other investigators are leaving for the scene.
He told Interfax that a criminal investigation has been opened on charges of terrorism and premeditated murder.
About 15,000 people took part in the religious festival, which was organized by the United Russia Party, Kravchenko said.
This is the second major terrorist attack to have taken place in Chechnya since the beginning of this week. On May 12, terrorists blew up a truck filled with explosives near an administrative compound in the village of Znamenskoye in Chechnya's Nadterechny district, killing 59 people.