Double bomb blasts kill at least twelve in northern Caucasus

March 31, 2010 Two bombings in the northern Caucasus region of Russia have killed at least twelve people and injured another eighteen.

The explosions occurred in Kizlyar, a town in the Dagestan province. The first bomb was detonated in a car near a school, killing two police officers, at around 08.30 Moscow time (04.30 UTC). According to Russian interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, police tried to stop the car before it blew up, as they had thought it looked suspicious.

The second explosion was caused by a suicide bomber disguised as a police officer. He had approached the scene of the first bombing as passerby and security gathered, and set off explosives.

According to officials, many of the dead were policemen, among them the Kizlyar police chief.

"In the blasts, twelve people have been killed, nine of them were police officers, including the Kizlyar police chief. Twenty-three others have been hospitalized, suffering with various injuries," commented a spokesman for the Investigative Committee of Russian Prosecutor General's Office, Vladimir Markin, to Interfax. He also noted that a criminal investigation into the bombings has been started.