11 soldiers killed by explosion in Russia
A radio-controlled bomb tore into a truck carrying Russian soldiers in the capital of the restive Dagestan region today, killing at least 11 troops and wounding over 20 other people, including civilians, officials said.
Rashid Isayev, head of the criminal police for the province, said the blast occurred when three trucks packed with Interior Ministry troops arrived at a bath house in Makhachkala.
The local branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry later said the blast was equivalent to about 22lbs of TNT. It said 11 troops were killed and more than 10 were wounded.
Kazanfar Kurbanov, head of the Emergency Medical Centre in Makhachkala, said 23 people, including civilians, were hospitalised with wounds.
Bloodstained bodies lay on the street on the outskirts of Makhachkala, and ambulances quickly whisked away those wounded. The explosion riddled the truck with shrapnel and shattered windows in nearby houses.
Dagestan, which borders the warring republic of Chechnya, has been plagued by rising violence believed connected with insurgents and criminal gangs. Today’s attack was the deadliest in the region in months.
Since the year’s start, a series of explosions has killed some 30 police and security officers and wounded scores of others. Some blame the killings on Islamic militants working with Chechen rebels, while others say the violence could be rooted in rivalry between the region’s more than 100 ethnic groups.
Today’s attack closely resembled a January 2001 bombing that killed seven Interior Ministry troops at the same site.
In Chechnya today, two Russian servicemen were wounded when they stepped on mines planted by the rebels, the Interfax news agency reported, quoting local police.
