WAVE OF TERRORISM IN DAGESTAN.

A bomb exploded yesterday in the center of Makhachkala in what was clearly an assassination attempt on Magomed Rasul Omarov, a deputy of Dagestan’s Constitutional Assembly and the republic’s deputy minister of internal affairs. The bomb had been planted by the side of the road, was detonated at long range and exploded the moment Omarov’s car came in range. The force of the explosion was equal to two kilograms of TNT. No one was killed, though Omarov, his bodyguard and a pedestrian were all wounded. Omarov and his driver survived because the inside of their car was covered with bulletproof vests. (NTV, June 24)

The authorities in Dagestan are on the alert for further terrorist acts in the run-up to tomorrow’s elections to the republic’s State Council. Earlier in the week, federal Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin announced that the number of agents of the Dagestani police had been increased by 1000 in anticipation of trouble. (NTV, June 23)

FEDERAL AUTHORITIES TO INVESTIGATE BASHKORTOSTAN’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.