Suicide Bombing in Russian Caucasus Kills 6 Policemen after Mosque Attack
Six policemen died in the volatile Russian Caucasus region of Ingushetia early Sunday in a suicide bombing at the funeral of their colleague, Russia's Investigative Committee said.
"In a private house where the funeral was taking place for a neighborhood policeman, a suicide bomber triggered an explosive device on his body," the committee, which investigates major killings, said in a statement.
"As a result of the explosion, according to preliminary information, seven people died including the suicide bomber, and there are also wounded whose number is being clarified," the statement said.
The RIA Novosti news agency cited the secretary of the regional security council, Akhmed Kotiyev, as saying that 11 people were wounded in the attack.
Ingushetia's leader, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, called the bombing as Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan a "terrorist" attack.
"According to preliminary information it was carried out by a terrorist suicide bomber," Yevkurov told Interfax, calling the attack "monstrous."
A severed head found at the scene of the blast was believed to be that of the suicide bomber, Yevkurov said.
"We are working on finding out whose head is lying at the scene of the explosion, and we will establish the identity of the bandit," he said.
The funeral was for a fellow officer killed in a shooting on Saturday evening in the Malgobek district in the north of the region, Interfax reported.
The explosion came hours after masked gunmen opened fire in a mosque in Dagestan on Saturday evening as worshippers celebrated the end of Ramadan, wounding eight and leaving an explosive device that was later deactivated.
Around 70 worshippers were in the mosque at the time of the attack, listening to a sermon, Life News reported, adding that the attackers then escaped by car.
Russia is fighting a simmering Islamist insurgency in the Caucasus, mostly in Dagestan and Ingushetia, which see regular attacks that officials blame on militants seeking to establish an Islamic state across the Russian Caucasus.
Source: Agence France Presse
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