MOSCOW — One person was killed when a car exploded Sunday in a reported suicide bombing Russia's troubled North Caucasus but a "major terrorist attack" was averted, Russian news agencies reported.
A car blew up in the town of Kaspiisk in the republic of Dagestan after it was stopped by a policeman, a source in the security services told the RIA Novosti news agency.
"A major terrorist attack seems to have been prevented," the source told RIA Novosti.
One person in the car died in the explosion, which took place close to a military base, news agencies reported, citing the FSB security service.
"The car blew up 100 metres (109 yards) away from a marine infantry check point. According to preliminary information, no one died or was injured except the terrorist himself," a spokesman for the FSB border guards in Dagestan told RIA Novosti.
"The Lada car did not stop when requested by police and attempted to flee. The highway police took measures to prevent it from driving away. An explosion went off in the car," a spokesman for the Interior Ministry told the ITAR-TASS news agency. "The person in the car died."
As with other regions of the North Caucasus, the local pro-Kremlin authorities in Dagestan are battling to defeat an Islamist insurgency that has already left scores of civilians and police dead.
The explosion came as Russia celebrates its Victory Day with a grandiose parade on Red Square in Moscow attended by numerous world leaders and, in a first, soldiers from four NATO countries.
In a separate incident in neighbouring Chechnya, police shot a bomber as he prepared to trigger an explosion, news agencies reported.
"An unidentified man attempted to trigger a homemade explosive device as police checked his papers," a spokesman for the Interior Ministry told ITAR-TASS. The man was shot dead by police, he added.
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