MAKHACHKALA, November 8 (RIA Novosti) – At least one person was killed during a bomb attack on a liquor store Friday morning in the capital of the turbulent southern Russian republic of Dagestan, local officials said.
A law enforcement source told RIA Novosti the store may have come under attack because it sold alcohol. Stores purveying liquor have come under sustained intimidation from radical Islamists in the mostly Muslim republic of Dagestan.
"It is not the first time that this store has been bombed. The first time it happened was on August 3," the source said.
The law enforcement source told RIA Novosti that an unidentified individual entered the store, shot the security guard and left the bomb inside the premises. The attacker later detonated the bomb remotely by mobile phone, the law enforcement official said.
Police are also considering the possibility that the attackers were militants demanding protection money.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said two other people were injured in the blast, which completely destroyed the store in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan.
The apparent attack bears similarities to an incident late last month in which a double explosion rocked a liquor store and adjacent shop in Makhachkala, killing at least one person and injuring several others.
Updated with details, quote, Interior Ministry theory for attack.
