Munich, Oct 1 (AP) German police closed the Oktoberfest fairgrounds and fanned out with sniffer dogs on Wednesday following a bomb threat from the suspected perpetrator of an explosion in northern Munich, authorities said.

Police in Bavaria, the state where Munich is located, said the suspect was believed to be a 57-year-old German citizen who, according to preliminary findings, had committed suicide near a lake in northern Munich.

The suspect, who had been living in the town of Starnberg south of the city, had been carrying a backpack containing an explosive device, the Bavaria police statement said.

City police said the blast before dawn at a residential building, which had been deliberately set on fire, appeared connected to a domestic dispute.

During the initial investigation, a le

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