MOSCOW, July 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has ordered the establishment of a group to investigate today's blast in Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan, a Russian republic bordering on Chechnya. The group has already left for Daghestan. Efforts are being made in Makhachkala and near the city to track down the perpetrators of the terrorist attack. Daghestan's Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case under four articles of Russia's Criminal Code.
The Prosecutor's Office said 10 commandos from the Russian Interior Ministry troops had been killed and 10 wounded, and many of them were in a serious condition. Ten civilians also received injuries.
The commandos had been sent from Moscow to conduct a comprehensive preemptive operation in Daghestan.
The blast went off at 2.15 p.m. when three trucks with the commandos approached a mined bridge. A spokesman for Daghestan's Interior Ministry said the force of the blast was equivalent to five kilograms of TNT.
