ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) — An Interior Ministry spokesman says a Russian policeman is dead and eight of his colleagues are wounded after a large bomb they were trying to defuse exploded.
Amir Tahirov said Wednesday that the bomb was found near the village of Komsomolskoye in the northern part of the restive republic of Dagestan.
He said the bomb, weighing about 300 kilograms (660 pounds), was packed with bolts and metal fragments and included six explosive canisters.
Police sappers tried to defuse the canisters, but one of them exploded, he said.
Dagestan for years has been plagued by violence connected to separatist militants.
