Explosion kills 10 troops in Russia's restive Dagestan

An explosion hit a truck carrying Russian troops in the capital of the southern Dagestan region Makhachkala on Friday, killing at least 10 troops and wounding seven others, Russian military officials said.

It was the deadliest attack in the troubled southern region in months.

Rashid Isayev, head of the criminal police for the province, said the explosion occurred when three trucks packed with Interior Ministry troops arrived at a bath house in Makhachkala, reports the AP.

After the Friday attack, blood-stained bodies lay on the street on the outskirts of Makhachkala, and ambulances quickly whisked away the wounded. It was not immediately known whether there were any civilian victims of the blast. An ER doctor at the site of the explosion said, there could be some civilian victims.

The explosion occurred when the trucks stopped at the entrance of the bath house, Isayev said. The explosive device appeared to be radio-controlled, its explosion power could be estimated up to 10 kg of TNT equivalent, experts at the site of the terrorist attack said, reports ITAR-TASS.

Since the year's start, a series of explosions has killed some 30 police and security officers and wounded scores of others. Dagestan has been shaken by violence, including attacks that have killed about 30 police and security officers this year alone. The motives behind the attacks are unclear: Some blame the killings on Islamic militants working in coordination with Chechen rebels, others pin it on people seeking vengeance for police brutality. Still others say the violence could be rooted in rivalry between Dagestan's more than 100 ethnic groups.

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