27-04-2024 08:13 AM Jerusalem Timing

Car Blast in Russia’s Dagestan Kills Policeman after ISIL Claims Earlier Attack

Car Blast in Russia’s Dagestan Kills Policeman after ISIL Claims Earlier Attack

One policeman was killed and another injured when a car exploded at a checkpoint in Russia’s volatile region of Dagestan Wednesday, local police said, hours after another officer died in a bombing claimed by ISIL.

One policeman was killed and another injured when a car exploded at a checkpoint in Russia's volatile region of Dagestan Wednesday, local police said, hours after another officer died in a bombing claimed by the Takfiri group, ISIL.

"As police were trying to stop a car, the driver drove past and the car exploded," local police spokeswoman Fatina Ubaydatova told AFP.Dagestan police

"As a result one policeman was killed and one was injured, according to preliminary information."

Ubaydatova said the identity and fate of the people in the vehicle remained unknown.

An unnamed source in law enforcement told RIA Novosti state news agency that a brief car chase ensued after the vehicle failed to stop at the checkpoint and that its occupants hurled an explosive device at the police car.

The incident came hours after a police officer was killed and two were injured when explosive devices were detonated on a main road near Dagestan's city of Kaspiysk late Tuesday as two police vehicles passed.

The Aamaq news agency, which is affiliated with ISIL, claimed Wednesday that fighters from the group were behind the attack.

Police refused to comment about any possible links between the incidents, which occurred some 100 kilometers apart.

Attacks against police are not uncommon in the North Caucasus region, which faces a simmering Takfiri insurgency.

In February, two police officers died and two were injured after attackers detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint. Around a dozen civilians were also injured.

ISIL group claimed a deadly shooting in December near the ancient citadel of Derbent, southern Dagestan.