Moscow, January 06: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today ordered the Federal Security Service (FSS) to tighten security in the North Caucasus following a suicide bomb attack in Dagestan that killed six and injured over 14 police officers.
Mr Medvedev instructed Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service, to investigate thoroughly the circumstances of the terrorist attack in Makhachkala, the Dagestan capital.
He also ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to enhance control of the situation in the North Caucasus and provide assistance to those injured in the bomb attack and the families of the victims.
The suicide bomber tried to drive a truck loaded with upto 70 kg of explosives into a traffic police station as officers were gathering. But his bomb was detonated when the car was rammed head on by police vehicle. The sacrifice of the officers involved prevented an even worse tragedy, said the local police chief. ”The number of victims has risen to six. The number of those wounded in the blast ranges from ten to fourteen people,” the emergency medicine centre said.
Today’s attack in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala was similar to a bombing in nearby Ingushetia last August that left atleast 20 people dead. The predominantly Muslim region has seen an increase in attacks by Islamist insurgents over the past year. Russian forces have fought two wars against separatists in the mainly Muslim republic of Chechnya since 1994. The conflicts claimed more than 100,000 lives and left the region in ruins. Chechnya has in recent years been more peaceful, but the fighting has spread to neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia, where a violent Islamist insurgency is growing. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has earlier pledged to wage ”a ruthless fight” against militant groups but also acknowledged a need to tackle unemployment, organised crime, clan rivalry and corruption as causes of the ongoing violence.
—Agencies