BBCNEWS… A suicide bomb attack in Russia’s restive North Caucasus republic of Dagestan has killed six policemen and wounded 14 more, officials say.
The attacker tried to drive a truck loaded with up to 70kg of explosives into a traffic police station as officers were gathering, police say.
But his bomb was detonated when the car was rammed head on by police vehicle.
The sacrifice of the officers involved prevented an even worse tragedy, said the local police chief.
Wednesday morning’s attack in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala was similar to a bombing in nearby Ingushetia last August that left at least 20 people dead, says the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow.
The predominantly Muslim region has seen an increase in attacks by Islamist insurgents over the past year.
Russian forces have fought two wars against separatists in the mainly Muslim republic of Chechnya since 1994. The conflicts claimed more than 100,000 lives and left the region in ruins.
Chechnya has in recent years been more peaceful, but the fighting has spread to Dagestan and Ingushetia, where correspondents say a violent Islamist insurgency is growing.