Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday...

The suicide bomber drove a car into a traffic police depot in Dagestan"s capital, Makhachkala, early on Wednesday but was blocked by a police vehicle before exploding.

Medvedev has instructed Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service, to investigate thoroughly the circumstances of the terrorist attack in Makhachkala and ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to enhance control of the situation in the North Caucasus and provide assistance to those injured in the bomb attack and the families of the victims.

A police spokesman in Dagestan said earlier in the day that casualties could have been considerably larger, if the car had not been blocked by the police officers who died as a result of the explosion.

The force of the explosion is estimated at 50-60 kg of TNT equivalent, the spokesman said.

Russia"s mainly Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, have seen an upsurge of militant violence lately,

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