Two dead, 28 wounded in Russia blasts

A police officer and a civilian died after being rushed to hospital and all of the others wounded in the explosions were police officers.

NAZRAN, February 19, 2010 (AFP) - Several blasts in southern Russia on Friday killed two people and wounded 28, officials said, the latest casualties in a struggle with Islamic insurgents in the volatile North Caucasus region.

The explosions occurred on the outskirts of Nazran, the main city in the republic of Ingushetia, Svetlana Gorbakova, spokeswoman for the local investigative committee, told AFP.

A police officer and a civilian died after being rushed to hospital and all of the others wounded in the explosions were police officers, she said, adding that three of the wounded were in critical condition.

"There were between three and five blasts," Gorbakova said.

The explosions occurred after a local resident discovered what appeared to be an explosive device inside an empty home that he owns and alerted police to his find.

A series of explosions ensued as police attempted to disable the device, Gorbakova said.

Russian security forces are locked in a war of attrition with Muslim insurgents throughout the North Caucasus, Russia's most volatile region which comprises Chechnya and other mainly-Muslim republics.

President Dmitry Medvedev described the instability and poverty in the region as Russia's most serious domestic problem.