A car blast in the Russian region of Dagestan near Chechnya killed at least three police officers on Saturday, a Reuters witness and officials said. The blast took place at 1200 GMT on one of the main thoroughfares of the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala and not far away from a reception hall where a wedding was taking place. The Reuters witness said he saw the bodies of at least two police officers at the scene, one in camouflage and the other in a standard Interior Ministry uniform. Regional Interior Ministry officials at the scene said a third officer died in hospital. At least four other police were wounded. Interfax news agency reported that a car loaded with explosives blew up just as a police patrol was walking past it. Dagestan, a territory by the Caspian Sea, has suffered from an overspill of violence from Chechnya since a separatist war erupted in the North Caucasus territory more than a decade ago. It has been the scene of numerous bomb and shooting attacks and incursions by Chechen rebels. Ten soldiers were killed by a similar blast in Makhachkala in July. --SP 2106 Local Time 1806 GMT
