Suburban train traffic halted in Russia's Dagestan over rail blast

MAKHACHKALA, July 11, 2010 (RIA Novosti)

Suburban train traffic has been halted in Dagestan in Russia's North Caucasus over a railway blast but passenger trains continue their operation without delays, the North Caucasus Railways reported on Sunday.

A freight train loaded with grain was derailed after an explosive device went off at a railroad in Dagestan early on Sunday.

A spokesman for the local Interior Ministry said there were no casualties in the blast, adding that a group of investigators was working at the scene of the incident.

This is the second blast at a railroad in Dagestan since the start of this month. Another freight train was derailed on July 2 by a blast on a railroad in Karabudakhkentsky district, near the republic's capital, Makhachkala. The train driver and his assistant were injured.

Sporadic terrorist attacks and militant clashes are common in Russia's largely Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia.

Blast in Dagestan's capital leaves 2 policemen wounded

 06:37 11/07/2010, RIA Novosti.

Two policemen were wounded in a blast in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a spokesman for the local Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

"An explosive device went off on the Akushinsky avenue near the central entrance of a cemetery," the spokesman said.

He added that the explosive device was either planted in a parked car or near it and went off, when a police car was passing by.

Sporadic terrorist attacks and militant clashes are common in Russia's largely Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia.