18:38, 5 July 2005

Terrorist act in Dagestan

A terrorist act was committed at 4:15 pm today on the northern outskirts of the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, near Kirovskii district police station no 3 in Aeroportovskoe Shosse St not far from the Makhachkala oil depot. There were many officers in the building at the moment. The explosion occurred when police officers were coming back to their offices after a dinner break. Most of them were already in the building.

The bomb stuffed with a lot of destructive elements (steel pieces) was triggered using a radio control, NTV says.

"Two police officers temporarily transferred to Makhachkala from Dagestan's Magaramkent district died on the spot," the unit on duty of the Makhachkala Department of Internal Affairs told ITAR-TASS. The names of the killed officers are Major Kudrat Perkhatov and Major Chirkei Tajibov.

Two people were wounded: Gajimurad Gajiyev, a 22-year-old student at a local police school, and Shakhnamaz Chobanov, 18. Both are in a grave condition.

There are witnesses who saw two young people run up to the staircase of the police station, put down an unidentified item and run away. In a while, a powerful blast occurred, ITAR-TASS was told in law enforcement agencies. Investigators are currently interrogating the eyewitnesses. Based on their evidence, identikit pictures will be developed.

A truck with special police force officers was exploded in Makhachkala on

1 July. Ten people were killed and 27 wounded as a result. A group called Sharia claimed responsibility for that act of terrorism.

A series of terrorist acts was committed in Dagestan on 25 June with eight people suffering. A train, a school and a police vehicle were blown up.