MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) – A policeman has died from his injuries after he was wounded in a shootout following an explosion in a village in Russia's violence-wracked North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, local police said Tuesday.
Officials say that they have not identified the individuals responsible for the blast that occurred at an empty house in Kuma, a village in the Laksky district, just after midnight.
The area has previously suffered violent incidents.
The neighboring Laksky and Kulinsky districts were placed under a state of emergency in mid-July while a counterterrorist operation was undertaken in reaction to the killing of four police officers in an ambush. At least two gunmen were killed in that operation.
More than a decade after the formal end of a federal military campaign against separatists in the neighboring North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, Russian security forces continue to fight militants in Dagestan and other regions in the area, who stage frequent attacks on security forces, police and civilians.
