Eleven people died in twin blasts in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, including two policemen.

Local Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov told the AP that the explosions occurred Wednesday morning in the city of Kizlyar, near Dagestan's border with Chechnya.

The Interfax agency quoted police officials saying that one of the bombs was set off by a suicide bomber.

Ethnic tensions

For the past 20 years, Dagestan has been the scene of recurring outbreaks of terrorism and home to a low-level Islamist insurgency.

The Dagestan blasts come on the heels of the twin suicide attacks in the Moscow metro, which killed 39 people during morning rush hour.

The deadly bombings in the Russian capital renewed fears of attacks from Islamic militants based in the North Caucasus and sparked criticism over what many considered Kremlin's underestimation of rebel violence.

smh/Reuters/AFP/AP
Editor:Matt Hermann