Suicide bomb kills two police officers, injures 14 in Dagestan, Russia

MAKHACHKALA, Russia, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Two police officers died and 12 people were injured Monday by a suicide car bomb detonated near Dzhemikentskogo traffic police post in the Derbent region of Dagestan, Russia.

The attack was organized by militants who have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State, said Rasul Temirbekov, spokesman for the Dagestani branch of the federal Investigative Committee.

The explosion damaged a large portion of the police station and also {link:lit four cars on fire. : "http://www.newsru.com/arch/russia/15feb2016/dagestan.html" target="_blank"} Among the injured were six police officers and six civilians.

Ramadan Abdullatipov, Head of the Republic of Dagestan, posted several photos from the scene on Instagram.

"Our common motto is: 'All to combat terrorism!', and we will be able to clean the Republic of the residue from the terrorist evil spirits! We are not afraid of extremists and terrorists, even if they are afraid of us. We live and die for our great country!" Abdullatipov wrote in the post.

The area has seen an increase of violence since Russian army forces became more involved in the conflict in Syria over the past year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he believes 7,000 Russian citizens are now part of the Islamic State threat.