Backgrounder: Major terrorism attacks in Russia linked to Russia's North Caucasus
Special Report: Twin blasts rock Moscow subway
Twelve people, including nine police officers, were killed in two blasts on Wednesday in the town of Kizlyar in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
MOSCOW, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Twelve people, including nine police officers, were killed in two blasts on Wednesday in the town of Kizlyar in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan.
"In the blasts, 12 people have been killed, nine of them were police officers, including the Kizlyar police chief. Twenty-three others have been hospitalized, suffering with various injuries," Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the Investigative Committee of Russian Prosecutor General's Office, told the Interfax news agency.
Dagestani authorities has launched a criminal investigation over the two explosions, he said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been informed of the terrorist attacks in Kizlyar.
"Medvedev has also spoken to Dagestan's President Magomedsalam Magomedov over the phone. The president ordered (Dagestani authorities) to provide all-round support for the families of the victims, as well as to provide all necessary assistance, including medical and financial, to the people injured," the press service told Russian media.
In the first explosion happened at 08:30 a.m. Moscow time (0430 GMT), a roadside car was denoted by a suicide bomber when a police car was passing by, killing three people including two police officer, the regional Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov told the Itar-Tass.
As investigators and residents gathering at the scene of the blast, a second bomber dressed as a policeman approached and set off explosives, killing the town's police chief among others, said Vyacheslav Gadzhiyev, another spokesman for the ministry.
Two bombings in the northern Caucasus region of Russia have killed at least twelve people and injured another eighteen.

The explosions occurred in Kizlyar, a town in the Dagestan province. The first bomb was detonated in a car near a school, killing two police officers, at around 08.30 Moscow time (04.30 UTC). According to Russian interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, police tried to stop the car before it blew up, as they had thought it looked suspicious. 

The second explosion was caused by a suicide bomber disguised as a police officer. He had approached the scene of the first bombing as passerby and security gathered, and set off explosives.

According to officials, many of the dead were policemen, among them the Kizlyar police chief.

"In the blasts, twelve people have been killed, nine of them were police officers, including the Kizlyar police chief. Twenty-three others have been hospitalized, suffering with various injuries," commented a spokesman for the Investigative Committee of Russian Prosecutor General's Office, Vladimir Markin, to Interfax. He also noted that a criminal investigation into the bombings has been started.