Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, blamed Chechens opposed to President Vladimir Putin?s plan, announced on Friday, to hold a local presidential election in Chechnya in October. A child was among those killed in the double bombing, which shattered a sunny afternoon at Tushino airfield where tens of thousands had gathered to hear well-known Russian bands. At least 60 people were wounded, police said. Gryzlov and Moscow Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, stood at the scene behind a barrier, staring at the prone body of a young, dark-haired woman with a gaping hole in her abdomen. No one claimed responsibility for the attack ? the worst in Moscow blamed on Chechen rebels since last October?s bloody theatre siege. But First Deputy Interior Minister, Rashid Nurgaliyev, said a probe had found a link to Chechen separatists.

New weapon ?It has been established that one of the terrorists has direct links with the ringleaders of groups engaged in illegal activity in Chechnya,? he told First Channel television. The bombers had been stopped from entering the main concert site and detonated their explosives by admission booths. The Interior Ministry said one of them was a resident of Chechnya, born in 1983. The concert was wound down gradually to prevent panic, with 200 buses sent to evacuate spectators. Many inside the grounds were unaware of the blasts, which witnesses said occurred 15 minutes apart. ?The first explosion near the booth was quite powerful. There were bits and pieces of all sorts flying above lamp posts,? said Andrei Tsvetkov, in his thirties. ?The second was by an underground passage. When I got there I saw an area 10 metres square covered in plastic sheeting. There was no panic but people were certainly in shock.? Women suicide bombers have only recently been used as a tactic by the most extreme of Chechen separatists fighting Russian rule for a decade. Most of the rebels involved in the theatre takeover were women with explosives strapped to their waists. The siege ended in the deaths of 129 hostages and 41 guerrillas ? nearly all from the effects of gas used by rescuers. A representative of the Chechen leadership ousted when Russian troops launched their second military campaign in 1999 said exiled leaders had nothing to do with Saturday?s blasts. Putin issued a decree ordering a local presidential election in Chechnya on October 5. ?I presume that this inhumane situation, this terrorist act, is linked with the staging of this event,? Gryzlov said. Putin?s decree on Friday was a key part of a Kremlin plan for a political solution to Chechen separatism. He won support for a new regional constitution in a referendum in March. Putin, who sent condolences to victims? families. Foreign leaders expressed horror at the attack and backed what Putin has long described as a fight against terrorism despite periodic Western allegations of abuse by Russian troops. ?No cause justifies terrorism, and as long as innocents are threatened by terror, the fight against this evil will continue. The civilised nations of the world will prevail,? the White House said in a statement from Washington. ?Nothing justifies such acts,? French President Jacques Chirac told Putin in a letter. German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder said the ?malicious act confirms once again that we must fight terrorism (...) in the most decisive manner?.