Four killed in twin blasts in Russia's North Caucasus

At least four people were killed and 35 others injured Monday in twin car bombings in Russia's North Caucasus region, officials said.

Two cars were blown up, one after the other near the court bailiff service headquarters in Makhachkala, capital city of Dagestan republic, Xinhua quoted a government spokesperson as saying.

No one was killed in the first explosion. Two policemen and one bailiff service employee were killed in the second blast, the interior ministry said.

An earlier report by the investigative committee said at least eight people were killed in the explosions, RIA Novosti reported.

"We were working as usual, at our desks. Panic broke out when we heard two explosions," said Magomed Buttayev, who works as a press officer for the bailiff service.

The investigative committee suggested that both explosions, which were reported to be car bombs, could have been detonated remotely.

Over 20 cars at a parking lot of the court marshals' office were damaged, Interfax news agency quoted a police spokesperson as saying.

Thirty-five people, including a three-year-old child, have been hospitalised. No children were killed in the blasts, the health ministry said.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts.

An Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years. Attacks on security forces and civilians are reported regularly in the neighbouring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.