Three policemen injured in explosion in central Grozny

12.09.2009, 11.30

MOSCOW, September 12 (Itar-Tass) --

Underground fighting has become more active in the North Caucasus.

Three policemen were injured in an explosion in central Grozny on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the Investigation Department of the Investigation Committee at the Russian Prosecutor's Office, Maryam Nalayeva, told Itar-Tass.

A female suicide bomber set off an explosive device in central Grozny several metres from a school at 08:00 Moscow time on Saturday. According to the updated information, three policemen were injured in the explosion. Security service and interior ministry investigators are working at the site. Children are evacuated from the school building.

According to the investigation, the explosive device was set off by a female suicide bomber across the road opposite the school and near a police post. The power of the explosive device was equivalent up to 500 grammes of TNT.

Meanwhile, in Makhachkala, the local underground leader was killed in a special operation on Saturday. He was a nephew of Magomed Bagautdinov, Dagestan leader, who is on an international wanted list.

The group of four people killed in the operation was involved in the last Friday murder of Makhachkala's deputy prosecutor Maksud Maksudov. Among the killed was the wife of one of the gunmen. She had a homemade grenade with her. Another woman surrendered to authorities.

Investigators are working at the operation site.

The gunmen killed in Makhachkala had prepared a series of attacks on law-enforcement officers, a source at the security service department in Dagestan said.

Drawings of the deputy prosecutor's house and the residence place of another high-ranking police officer, against whom an attack was also planned, were found in the house where the gunmen had hidden.

In Ingushetia, one of the five people injured in an attack on a traffic police post at the Caucasus federal highway died in the republic's central hospital, an interior ministry source told Itar-Tass. The victim is a local resident who was near the police post at the moment. Two civilians and two policemen remain in hospital.

The power of the explosive device set off by a suicide bomber at the police post was equivalent to 30 kilogrammes of TNT, the republic's Acting Interior Affairs Minister Valery Zhirnov told Itar-Tass. The explosive device was filled with small metal balls and fragments.

Policemen who were at the post opened fire on the approaching car. The investigation has established that the car driver was a suicide attacker. His remains are found at the explosion site.

On Friday, the suicide bomber drove a car behind the traffic police station and set off an explosive device there. As was established, the Lada car was stolen from Moscow. The explosion killed the bomber and injured five people, two policemen and three civilians. The injured people were taken to hospital. One of the local residents died of the wounds.