A suicide car bomber has killed at least five soldiers and wounded more than 30 at a military base in southern Dagestan.

Officials say the bomber drove a car containing around 50 kilos of explosives onto a firing range where troops had set up camp.

It’s thought the number of dead would have been much higher had personnel not blocked the attackers path with a truck. Hundreds of soldiers were reportedly sleeping only metres away in tents at the time of the attack.

The latest strike, comes only a day after a government minister and his driver were killed in a separate car bombing in Dagestan.

Russia is struggling to contain violence in its mainly Muslim provinces along its southern flank.

However, Dagestan has now overtaken its neighbours as the epicentre of bombings and shootings.

A potent mix of clan feuds, poverty, Islamic extremism and heavy handed tactics by Russian security forces is said to be fuelling the insurgency.

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