CHISINAU, Moldova — A grenade exploded at a crowded concert in the main square of the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, injuring at least 40 people, security officials said Thursday.
State security officials said the grenade had apparently been left in a box and exploded as the Romanian singer Stefan Banica Jr. brought the concert to its climax late Wednesday.
Interior Minister Victor Catan, who confirmed the explosion was caused by a military grenade, told journalists that the explosion was the work either of "representatives of a terrorist group or criminal groups from abroad."
A criminal investigation was opened on the basis of "terrorism with the aim of intimidating the population," an interior ministry official said.
Moldova is in the grip of political instability since the Communists were defeated in a July election by a pro-Western coalition committed to European integration.
Although a government has been formed, a president still has to be elected by parliament. An Oct. 23 date has been set for this election, but a stalemate between the coalition and the opposition Communists means this will not be straightforward.
Prime Minister Vlad Filat immediately called former Communist President Vladimir Voronin.
"He discussed the situation with Voronin and asked him not to use this [the explosion] to destabilize the political situation in Moldova," Filat's spokesman said.
Witnesses said about 3,500 mainly young people were crowded onto Chisinau's Great National Assembly square for the concert, part of an annual festival celebrating the city's founding.
An emergency services doctor, Valery Andronik, said about 40 people were taken to hospital. Five were kept in for treatment for serious burns, though the explosion had not been fierce.
Mikhail Bogov, 19, said the grenade exploded 50 meters from the stage as Banica performed.
"Three splinters went into my legs. Doctors said this was caused by a grenade or a homemade bomb," he said. "I don't remember how it happened. I came to when I was with the first aid doctors."
"I heard a loud bang and felt a fierce pain in my legs. Friends picked me up in their arms," said Mikhail Kerlig, 20.
Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca said Banica was told to play on to avoid panic. "Many people did not know what had happened," he said.
Also Thursday, a man walked up to the Prosecutor General's Office in Chisinau and threatened to blow himself up together with the prosecutor, security officials said.
He appeared half an hour before the prosecutor was due to give a news conference about the blast, but later surrendered.
Officials said the man had been carrying a grenade and had a grievance over his son who had been convicted of murder. There was no link to the concert explosion.
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