Policeman killed in Dagestan bombing claimed by IS

Russia launched an investigation Wednesday after a police officer was killed and two were injured in a bomb attack in the volatile Dagestan region that was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Two explosive devices were detonated on a main road near the city of Kaspiysk late Tuesday as two police vehicles passed, Russian authorities said.

The Aamaq news agency, which is affiliated with IS, claimed Wednesday that fighters from the group were behind the attack.

Dagestan’s investigative committee said it had opened a criminal probe into the blast.

Attacks against police are not uncommon in the North Caucasus region, which faces a simmering Islamist insurgency.

In February, two police officers died and two were injured after attackers detonated a car bomb at a checkpoint. Around a dozen civilians were also injured.

The Islamic State group also claimed a deadly shooting in December near the ancient citadel of Derbent, southern Dagestan.

Islamist rebels from Dagestan, which lies immediately east of Chechnya, are known to have travelled to join the Islamic State group. Last year the group declared it had established a “franchise” in the North Caucasus.

Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, has previously called on jihadists from the Caucasus to attack targets in Russia in response to Moscow’s bombing campaign in Syria.