LIVE UPDATES: Four people, including 2 policemen were killed and 5 wounded in an explosion set off by a suicide bomber near the Dzhemikent traffic police post in Derbent District in Dagestan.
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UPDATES BELOW
More than 12,000 people have signed a statement launched by the Congress of Russian Intellectuals calling for the dismissal of Kadyrov.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
At least 3 people were killed including 2 policemen and 17 people – 8 policemen and 9 civilians – have suffered shrapnel wounds and burns due to a suicide-bombing in Dagestan today, Gazeta.ru reported. Three received first aid at the scene and the rest were taken to the hospital; two are in serious condition. One of the policeman was a local Dagestani man and the other was a policeman sent on assignment from Mordovia. There were both policemen from the Russian temporary group of forces and Dagestani police as well as civilians at the post.
According to LifeNews, police made a preliminary identification of the bomber as A. Talibov, aged 23 who had entered Astrakhan Medical University in 2011 but after two years was expelled. He was conditionally reinstated in 2013, but then expelled finally in July 2015.
“A computer and other devices and personal items testify to the deceased’s affiliation to ISIS, which he joined in the summer of last year [2015].”
Ramazan Abdulatipov, head of Dagestan, denounced the “terrorist filth” in an Instagram post today.
“In recent years we have managed to lower the level of terrorist danger in the republic, but apparently there are people who do not want there to be stability and prosperity in Dagestan! We will seriously oppose any forms of manifestation of radicalism and terrorism! We have one common motto: “Everyone fight terrorism!” and we will cleanse the republic of the remnants of terrorist filth!”
On December 30, militants said to be aligned with ISIS fired on tourists at the ancient fortress of Naryn-Kala in Derbent. One FSB officer of the border guards was killed and 11 people were wounded. After this attack, law-enforcers said only 3 people remained in the militants’ group.
According to RIA Novosti, the number of wounded has risen to 17.
14 people have been hospitalised while three received medical attention from paramedics before being sent home.
One woman is reported to be in a very critical condition and another four people, two of them civilians are in a severe condition, reports the Ministry of Health.
There are varying reports of the number of people killed, with RIA Novosti reporting “from two to four” dead.
Caucasian Knot reports that the Russian Investigative Committee has confirmed two deaths.
— Pierre Vaux
RIA Novosti reports that an explosion occurred near the Dzhemikent traffic police post in Derbent District in Dagestan when police halted an automobile to inspect it.
Two policemen and two civilians were killed in the blast, and five others were wounded. They have been taken to a local hospital.
“Behind the wheel of the automobile was a suicide terrorist who blew himself up. From preliminary information, the explosion wsa organized by militants from the “southern diversionary terrorist group.”
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick