Dagestan Leader Survives Bomb Attack

A powerful bomb apparently aimed at a deputy prime minister in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan exploded Wednesday, killing three people, a news report said.

The remote-controlled bomb exploded in the regional capital of Makhachkala when a vehicle carrying Deputy Prime Minister Said Amirov’s security guards drove by, the Interfax news agency reported. Amirov was in another car and was unharmed.

The explosion overturned the guards’ vehicle, which hit a nearby police car. Two officers and a passenger were killed; three other people were hospitalized, the report said.

It was the second such attack apparently targeting Amirov, who was seriously injured when a bomb exploded near his car in 1992.

Dagestan is close to several regions troubled by civil and ethnic conflicts, such as Chechnya, Georgia and Azerbaijan.