An emergency medical flight landing in Moscow has brought the casualties of Saturday morning’s terror attack in Makhachkala in Dagestan.
They number 14 and include two children and five police officers. The condition of at least four of these people has been described as critical.
According to Dagestani police officials, a 25-year-old woman named Madina Aliyeva detonated a powerful suicide bomb outside the building of Dagestan’s Interior Ministry. She was a Sharia widow of two eliminated rebels.
Makhachkala suicide bomber was twice married to gunmen - source
The Saturday bomb attack in Makhachkala could have been committed by Madina Aliyeva (Salakhanova), a city resident, who had been considered missing since May 13, a Dagestani law enforcement source told Interfax.
Aliyeva had earlier been married to two members of illegal armed groups, he said. Aliyeva's parents reported to police on May 13 that she had left home and never returned.
"Intelligence indicates that she simply went underground, and there were even reports that she planned to commit a suicide attack.
She had been married twice earlier, first to Ali Aliyev, who was killed in summer 2009, and then to Kurban Dzhapayev killed in Kaspiisk in summer 2012.
Then she also was in the house, where gunmen were hiding, but walked out of there along with other women and two children of hers," he said.
Aliyeva's identity was determined preliminarily based on her body fragments, witness testimony, and analysis of intelligence. Interfax could not immediately obtain official confirmation of this information.
Makhachkala: Suicide bomber was woman - Dagestani Interior Ministry
The Saturday bomb attack not far from the Dagestani Interior Ministry headquarters in Makhachkala was committed by a female suicide bomber, the ministry said.
"The remains found at the scene helped determine the terrorist's gender as female," it said.
Only suicide bomber killed in Makhachkala attack
The Dagestani Interior Ministry has denied earlier reports that two people were killed in a bomb attack in Makhachkala.
The ministry said the female suicide bomber was the only person killed in the attack, although it admitted that one of the injured policemen was in critical condition.
It was reported earlier that 11 people, among them 5 policemen and 6 civilians, were injured in the blast. One of the injured policemen was first considered dead but later showed signs of life.
Makhachkala bomb attack: 1 killed, at least 10 injured
One policeman has been killed in a bomb attack on Gamzatov Avenue not far from the Dagestani Interior Ministry headquarters in Makhachkala on Saturday, the ministry said.
It is believed that the attack was committed by a suicide bomber who approached a police patrolling unit. "The explosion killed one policeman and injured three others. Several [civilian] passersby have also sustained injures. The circumstances of the incident and the number of casualties have yet to be verified," a ministry spokesperson said.
"There are both police officers and civilians among them. Several casualties have serious injuries," a Trauma Center spokesperson said.
A local law enforcement source said that the attack could have been committed by a female suicide bomber.
"Preliminary findings indicate that this is a Makhachkala resident who had presumably gone missing several days ago," the source said. He also said there are children among those injured.
Police fear another bomb attack near Dagestani Interior Ministry HQ
Police fear that another bomb attack could be committed near the Dagestani Interior Ministry headquarters in Makhachkala following the first blast that killed at least one policeman and injured about 10 other people, a law enforcement source said.
We fear another explosion, similar to what happened recently near the headquarters of the Court Bailiff Service," he said.
The scene of the attack has been cordoned off, he said.
Makhachkala: 9, including 3 policemen, injured in suicide attack
Nine people, including three policemen, have been injured in a bomb attack near the Dagestani Interior Ministry headquarters in Makhachkala, the ministry said.
The remains of a suicide bomber who apparently set off the explosive device have also been found at the scene.
