Gas blasts injure 21 in Dagestan

Parts of Dagestan and Azerbaijan were left without gas after the blast

Twenty-one people have been injured after a gas pipeline exploded in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, which borders war-torn Chechnya.

Police suspect the blast near the regional capital, Makhachkala, was the result of sabotage.

The fire was extinguished early on Thursday and investigators were at the scene, Russian media reported.

The blast left nine Dagestani towns without gas and affected supplies to neighbouring Azerbaijan.

Criminal inquiry

Dagestan's interior ministry said it had launched a criminal investigation into the explosions at the main Mozdok-Kazimagomed pipeline.

Two firefighters and 19 civilians were hurt in the fire, the republic's emergencies ministry said.

A local resident told RTR Russia TV how people who went to investigate the fire were caught by an explosion.

He said: "There were 10 to 15 people next to the flames, that is for sure. Then there was an explosion and that was that.

"All I could do was duck and cover myself like this and then I went down head over heels."

Magomed Abidov, an emergencies ministry official, said they were still trying to establish details of the civilians who were hurt.

Firefighters said they had been unable to approach the blaze until all the gas in the pipe had burnt off.

A spokesman for the company which runs the pipeline said the gas supply should be restored by Thursday evening.

Gas pipelines through Dagestan have been targeted before by saboteurs, Russian media said.