Russia finds Chechen suicide bomber base

Russian justice officials have claimed a major success against Chechnya's suicide bombers after raiding a rebel hideaway outside…

Russian justice officials have claimed a major success against Chechnya's suicide bombers after raiding a rebel hideaway outside Moscow.

Dozens of police and security officers with special anti-bomb equipment converged overnight on the single-floor shack at Tolstopaltsevo, a village 30 kilometres outside Moscow.

Russian prosecutors said police, who used a special bomb disposal robot in their search, had found five "suicide belts", which were then defused.

"Today we have averted at least five possible terrorist acts," Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

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The breakthrough followed a bomb attack at an open-air rock festival in Moscow on July 5th in which two women, said to be Chechens, blew themselves up, killing 14 people and themselves. A 15th victim died yesterday.