Suicide bomber kills one in Dagestan

1 Sep, 2009 14:03 / Updated 15 years ago

A suicide car bomber has killed one and injured 14 others in Russia's southern region of Dagestan, according to officials.

The blast struck at a traffic checkpoint on the outskirts of Dagestan's capital Makhachkala.

The police post there was partly destroyed. The explosives were planted inside a VAZ-2108 car.

“The explosion left a crater 3.5 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters deep. The bomb contained the equivalent of 30-40 kilograms of TNT,” a spokesman for the local branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told Interfax.

The suicide bomber has not yet been identified.

According to the Interior Ministry, traffic police averted a large-scale terrorist attack in the capital by stopping the suicide bomber.

It is the latest outbreak of violence in Russia's Caucasus region, which has seen a significant rise in trouble in recent weeks.