Death toll in south Russia blast rises to 21, nine missing
12:40 18/08/2009 MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - More than 20 police were killed and nine officers are still missing after a deadly suicide bombing in southern Russia's Ingushetia on Monday, prosecutors said.
"More than 20 police officers were killed... Seven police and two servicemen are still missing," Russia's top Investigation Committee said.
Russian media said the death toll rose to 21 people as one of the injured died in hospital overnight.
In the worst attack in the republic for years, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden minivan into the gates of the police headquarters in the republic's largest city Nazran on Monday. Earlier reports said at least 20 people were killed and 138, mainly civilians, injured.
Prosecutors said 60 people, including nine children, were in Nazran's main clinic with injuries sustained during the attack. Nine people with serious injuries have been taken to Moscow in an emergencies ministry plane.
President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed Ingushetia's interior minister on Monday and ordered a probe into police activities.
"I believe this [attack] was not only a result of problems connected to terrorist activities, but also a result of the unsatisfactory performance of the republic's law enforcement agencies," Medvedev said.
Latest reports said the blast was equivalent to 400 kg of TNT. It damaged the police building and nearby blocks of flats.
The explosion left a crater about 4 meters wide and 2 meters deep and triggered more explosions as ammunition detonated in the police headquarters. The blast shattered windows and smashed balconies in residential buildings, also destroying dozens of cars.
Ingushetia and the neighboring republics of Chechnya and Dagestan have seen a rise in militant violence of late, with frequent attacks on federal troops, police and other officials.
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