By Country / Russia

Seven Killed In Ingushetia Blast

May 17, 2006 -- Seven people, including a high-level police official, have been killed in an explosion in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia today.

Dzhabrail Kostoyev, the Ingushetian deputy interior minister, was traveling to work in Nazran when another car packed with explosives blew up, killing Kostoyev along with two of his bodyguards and four civilians.

Initial reports said the attack was possibly carried out by a suicide bomber, but officials later said the blast may have been detonated by remote control.

Ingushetia, next to Chechnya, has seen many attacks on law enforcement officials and facilities.

Kostoyev, then Nazran's police chief, was wounded in August when unknown assailants detonated a land mine as his car was passing.

(AFP, AP, ITAR-TASS, Reuters)