MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) — A policeman and a civilian have been killed and seven police officers have been wounded in two separate attacks in a volatile province in southern Russia, officials said Friday.
In one attack in the province of Dagestan, a gunman entered a cafe where four senior police officers were having a dinner and fired at them at point-blank range Thursday, said Mark Tolchinsky, a spokesman for the regional branch of the Russian Interior Ministry.
Tolchinsky said Friday the four officers were hospitalized with heavy wounds after the attack in the town of Khasavyurt near the administrative border with Chechnya. He said a civilian man who was at a neighboring table was killed.
In another attack Friday, unidentified assailants detonated a remotely-controlled explosive device in a roadside cafe where four police officers were having a lunch, Tolchinsky said. One of the officers later died in a hospital and another three have remained in serious condition.
Chechnya and neighboring North Caucasus provinces have remained mired in violence stemming from wars between separatist Chechen rebels and the Russian government. Islamic militants launch regular attacks on police and other authorities.
Officials said that about 50 police officers have been killed in Dagestan alone this year.
