Suicide bombers kill 12, wound 110 in Dagestan, Russia

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MAKHACHKALA, Russia - Suicide bombers killed 12 people and wounded 110 in attacks on a police post on the outskirts of the capital of Russia's Dagestan region, local investigators and law enforcement sources said Friday.

The attacks outside Makhachkala late Thursday were the deadliest in months, undermining efforts by Russian security forces to contain an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus region near Sochi, where Russia will host the Winter Olympics in 2014.

More than a decade after federal troops toppled an Islamist government in Chechnya, also in the North Caucasus, security forces are fighting militants whose ranks are swollen by anger at poverty, clan feuds and pervasive corruption.

The first suicide bomber detonated a bomb when police stopped a vehicle to check documents, a statement by the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/04/11537783-suicide-bombers-kill-12-wound-110-in-dagestan-russia

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1. Dagestan’s deadly bombs highlight challenge to returning president Putin

MOSCOW — The twin thundering car bombs that shook the capital of Dagestan and killed at least 13 people were grisly reminders that Vladimir Putin, who came to power a dozen years ago as a hardliner against Caucasus insurgents, will have to confront more violence as he returns to a third term in the Kremlin.

Putin, to be inaugurated as president Monday after spending a four-year sojourn as prime minister due to term limits, largely succeeded in his vulgar vow to wipe out Chechen rebels even if they had to be killed in outhouses.

But the neighboring southern Russian region of Dagestan remains wracked by violence attributed to Islamic insurgents — attacks on police and shootouts with militants take place almost daily.

Unlike the Chechen insurgency, the one in Dagestan has not exploded into full-fledged war. Most of the attacks get little or no attention in Russian news media, making it an almost-forgotten conflict.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/dagestans-deadly-bombs-highlight-challenge-to-returning-president-putin/2012/05/04/gIQA7fNX1T_story.html