Police officers and investigators seen at the site of an explosion at the traffic police station on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's Dagestan region, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Five police were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a suicide bombing Wednesday in Russia's restive North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, Interfax news agency reported.

    "The information available to us suggests that five police officers plus the suicide attacker were killed. Fourteen people, including 10 policemen, were injured," Intefax quoted a regional interior ministry spokesman as saying.

    A spokesman for the republic's emergency medical center confirmed the death of six people in the blast, but said that 19 injured were being treated in local hospitals.

People, police officers and investigators seen at the site of an explosion at the traffic police station on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's Dagestan region, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Media reports said earlier seven people were killed in the suicide attack, including one police officer, who died in hospital.

    A suicide bomber detonated his car laden with explosives outside the traffic police headquarters in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, after police stopped his car at the gate, local police said.

    Police said there could have been more casualties if the car had not been blocked. The force of the explosion was estimated at 50-60 kg of TNT equivalent.

    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has instructed Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service, to investigate the terror attack.

    Medvedev has also ordered the Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to step up security level in Dagestan and provide assistance to the injured and the families of the victims.

    Dagestan and the other mainly Muslim regions of Russia's North Caucasus have been plagued by instability and violence recently. Skirmishes between troops and militants, and attacks on police and other officials have been reported daily.

Bomb attack foiled in Russia's North Caucasus

    MOSCOW, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- A terrorist bomb attack was thwarted in Russia's turbulent North Caucasus region on Tuesday, local media reported.

    Police in the Kabardino-Balkaria republic discovered a powerful bomb, equivalent to 50 kg of TNT, near a busy road, the RIA Novosti news agency cited a police source as saying. Full story

Police kill four militants in Russia's Dagestan

    MOSCOW, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Four suspected gunmen, including a militant leader, were killed in Russia's volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Thursday, the RIA Novosti news agency said, quoting a local police official.

    Militants opened fire on police when required to stop their car for a routine check in the town of Khasavyurt on Thursday night, the official said. Full story 

District police chief killed in south Russia

    MOSCOW, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- A district police chief in Russia's troubled North Caucasus republic of Dagestan was shot dead overnight to Monday outside his house, Russian news agencies reported.

    The head of the Karabudakhkent district police department, Abdulvagid Magomedov, was killed by unidentified gunmen as he left his home in the village of Gurbuki, local police said. Full story