“Twelve people died – three civilians, three rescuers, the remaining [victims] are police officers. Casualty reports are still being verified,” state-owned Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a spokesman for the republic’s Interior Ministry as saying on Friday.
According to police sources, the first blast occurred at a police traffic control post in the capital Makhatchkala at about 22:10 local time (18:10 GMT) on Thursday.
The second explosion took place 10 minutes later when rescuers came to the site.
Police officials said they expected the death toll to rise.
Sporadic attacks and militant clashes are common in North Caucasus’ republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia.
Russia has been fighting various waves of insurgencies in the region since the early 1990s, despite the official end of the ‘battle phase’ of the Second Chechen War in 2000.
MN/HN
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