At least five people were injured during a grenade blast and car bombing at a restaurant in Dagestan on Friday.
The attack began with a grenade blast on the second floor, followed by a car bomb that exploded after police arrived.
CNN reported:
Explosions from a grenade-launcher attack and then a car bomb rocked a restaurant in the capital of Russia’s republic of Dagestan on Friday, injuring at least five people, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing local authorities.
The attack in Makhachkala began with a grenade blast on the second floor, followed by a car bomb that exploded after police arrived, RIA Novosti reported.
A law enforcement source told the news outlet that a dispute between criminal gangs could be a motive.
The explosions came amid years of unrest and an Islamist insurgency in Dagestan and the North Caucasus region. They also came as Russian security forces have tried to address security concerns before next month’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, perhaps a 12-hour drive west of Dagestan.
Concerns about security in Russia were heightened after twin bombings on public transit that killed more than 30 people in the southern city of Volgograd at the end of last month.
Just Wednesday, four militants and three Russian security force members died in a shootout in Dagestan, which sits on the other side of the Caucasus range from Sochi.
