MOSCOW: Two police officers were killed Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a police station in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Ingushetia, officials said.
The attacker detonated himself outside the local police headquarters in the Ingush town of Karabulak at about 8:20 am (0420 GMT), Russia's investigative committee said in a statement.
"As a result of the blast, the suicide bomber died at the scene and three police officers were taken to hospital, where two of them died," it said, adding that the bomber struck as a car full of officers was entering the compound.
A second explosion went off in a car near the Karabulak police station at 9:10 am (0510 GMT) but nobody was hurt, the Interfax news agency reported, citing an unnamed police source.
The suicide bomber had been trying to enter the compound and detonated his explosives when guards forced him to stop, a spokesman for the regional interior ministry told ITAR-TASS news agency.
"The terrorist was apparently trying to enter the territory of the police station and trigger an explosion during the morning gathering, which would have led to many deaths," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
Ingushetia is a predominantly Muslim region of Russia's North Caucasus which neighbours war-torn Chechnya and has been troubled in recent years by a violent Islamist insurgency.
Russia has sought to tighten security and boost efforts to hunt down insurgents since a pair of suicide bombers attacked the Moscow metro last week, killing 40 people.
- AFP/yb
The attacker detonated himself outside the local police headquarters in the Ingush town of Karabulak at about 8:20 am (0420 GMT), Russia's investigative committee said in a statement.
"As a result of the blast, the suicide bomber died at the scene and three police officers were taken to hospital, where two of them died," it said, adding that the bomber struck as a car full of officers was entering the compound.
A second explosion went off in a car near the Karabulak police station at 9:10 am (0510 GMT) but nobody was hurt, the Interfax news agency reported, citing an unnamed police source.
The suicide bomber had been trying to enter the compound and detonated his explosives when guards forced him to stop, a spokesman for the regional interior ministry told ITAR-TASS news agency.
"The terrorist was apparently trying to enter the territory of the police station and trigger an explosion during the morning gathering, which would have led to many deaths," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
Ingushetia is a predominantly Muslim region of Russia's North Caucasus which neighbours war-torn Chechnya and has been troubled in recent years by a violent Islamist insurgency.
Russia has sought to tighten security and boost efforts to hunt down insurgents since a pair of suicide bombers attacked the Moscow metro last week, killing 40 people.
- AFP/yb
