Dagestan car bomb toll rises to eight

The death toll in a car bomb blast in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan has climbed to eight, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Wednesday.

A policeman and seven civilians, including an 11-year-old girl, died when a car was blown up on the Kupa-Gunib highway Wednesday afternoon.

Another six police officers were hospitalized with injuries of various degrees of severity.

The explosion went off when policemen tried to check a suspicious car.

Dagestan has been hit by a series of terrorist attacks in the last week, including fatal bombings and shootings.