Putin says Moscow,Dagestan attacks may be linked

Putin said the same gang which carried out the suicide blasts in Moscow metro could be behind Wednesday's bombings in Dagestan that killed at least 12 people.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said the same gang which carried out the suicide blasts in Moscow metro could be behind today’s bombings in the country’s volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan that killed at least 12 people.

“One more crime has been committed in Daghestan,one more terrorist attack. I do not rule out that one and the same gang was involved,” Putin said in televised remarks at the meeting of his inner cabinet.

The Premier ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to send police reinforcements to Daghestan and other regions of Caucasus region to tighten security.

“For us it is not significant,that in which part of the country such crimes are committed,not at all significant,who became its victim,of which ethnic or religious group they belong. For us this is a crime against Russia,” Putin said.

Today’s blast in Daghestan comes just two days after two Chechen women suicide bombers blew themselves up at crowded metro trains in Moscow killing 39 people.

According to the Daghestani Investigation Committee,the force of the first blast of explosive laden Niva jeep in Kizlyar was equivalent to 200 Kg TNT creating a 5 meter wide and two meter deep crater.

12 people,including the local police chief and his eight subordinates were killed in the second suicide attack by a man in police uniform. He has been identified as a local resident.

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Kizlyar town borders the restive province of Chechnya and has witnessed a bloody raid by Chechen militants in 1995,during the course of first Chechnya war under ex-President Boris Yeltsin.

Meanwhile,Life.ru website has posted photos of the intact heads of female suicide bombers of Moscow metro stations,which were used by police for quick identification.

The police have also released a sketch of a man,who is reported to have triggered the explosive belts carried on them by the suicide bombers with the help of his mobile phone at both the stations,Life.ru reported.

It said,unlike at Lubyanka station under the FSB security service headquarters,where 25 people were killed,the second belt carried by woman bomber in Park Kultury did not explode that is why only 12 people died there.