One police officer dead in suicide bombing in Russia's North Caucasus

[News_Editor]

One police officer dead in suicide bombing in Russia's North Caucasus

2011-05-10 22:10:18 GMT+7 (ICT)

DAGESTAN, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- A suicide bombing on Tuesday killed one police officer and injured another in Dagestan in the volatile Russia's North Caucasus region, RIA Novosti reported.

A young man was walking towards the police headquarters in Dagestan's capital city, Makhachkala. Before reaching his destination, a police officer detained him in order to check his documents.

However, the suicide bomber detonated an explosive device he was carrying. Police launched an investigation to determine the identity of the suspected militant. Minutes after the blast another explosion took place in Makhachkala.

Several people were injured after a car loaded with explosives was detonated in the center of the city in the mostly-Muslim republic. Terrorist attacks and shootouts are an increasing issue in the North Caucasus region.

On Sunday, seven suspected militants were killed during a large-scale security operation by Russian security forces in a forest in the Kizlyar district in northern Dagestan.

In addition, one soldier was killed and three riot police officers were injured during the operation during which police encountered with a group of militants and engaged in a gunfight.

Also on Tuesday, police killed four suspected militants in a raid at an apartment in downtown Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. In late April, law agents killed 10 insurgents, suspected of perpetrating a series of terror attacks on Russian tourists in a ski resort.

So far this year, Russian security forces have killed 146 militants in the North Caucasus region, including 19 senior leaders. The deaths have taken place in the troubled republics of Chechnya, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Islamist militants in the region have been fighting Russian security forces for years, looking to establish an independent state in the North Caucasus. Around 50 percent of all terrorist-related violence in Russia last year happened in the mainly-Muslim region.

Chechen Islamist rebel leader Dokka Umarov claimed responsibility for ordering the suicide bombing that killed 37 people and injured approximately 200 more at Moscow's Domodedovo airport.

Umarov ordered the Moscow attack in pursuit of an independent Muslim state in the North Caucasus region in southern Russia. In April 2009, Russia ended its ten-year-long anti terrorism campaign against separatist forces in Chechnya.

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