MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) A man was killed and at least eight others were wounded Wednesday in explosions targeting stores in Russia's restive southern province, officials said.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that explosives went off Wednesday in two nearby stores in Makhachkala, the regional capital of the North Caucasus province of Dagestan.
The regional branch of Russia's main investigative agency, the Investigative Committee, said the blasts at two adjacent liquor stores at a busy intersection in downtown Makhachkala killed one and wounded eight. Three of those wounded were police officers.
Islamic militants have frequently targeted stores, particularly those selling liquor.
Dagestan has become the epicenter of an Islamic insurgency that has spread across the North Caucasus region after two separatist wars in Chechnya, with near daily bombings and shootings. The Tsarnaev brothers, accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings, have roots in Dagestan and Chechnya.
