8 killed in attack on repairmen in Russia’s Dagestan

8 workers killed in attack in Russia’s Dagestan

MAKHACHKALA, Russia — Officials in Russia’s violent Dagestan region say eight workers on their way to repair a bombed cell phone tower have been killed in an attack that also wounded four policemen.

Regional police spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov says the tower was attacked during the night. He says a convoy of police and repairmen heading to the site Thursday came under fire and one of the vehicles was blown up.

Dagestan is plagued by near-daily violence attributed both to criminal gangs and to separatists apparently inspired by the insurgency in neighboring Chechnya.