Khyber News

MOSCOW: Six policemen died in the volatile Russian Caucasus region of Ingushetia early Sunday after a bomb went off at the funeral of their colleague, Russian news agencies reported.

“As the policemen entered the yard of the house where the funeral was taking place, a powerful blast went off. As a result of the explosion, six policemen died on the spot and there are many wounded,” a spokesman for the regional Investigative Committee told the Interfax news agency.

A law enforcement source told Interfax that “so far six injured have been hospitalised, but it’s possible that more than 10 will be hospitalised.”

The funeral was for a fellow officer killed in a shooting on Saturday evening in the Malgobek district in the north of the region, Interfax reported.

The explosion came hours after masked gunmen opened fire in a mosque in Dagestan on Saturday evening as worshippers celebrated the end of Ramadan, wounding eight and leaving an explosive device that was later deactivated.

Russia is fighting a simmering insurgency in the Caucasus, mostly in Dagestan and Ingushetia, which see regular attacks that officials blame on militants seeking to establish an Islamic state across the Russian Caucasus. -- Agencies