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January 6, 2010: Police officer foils suicide bomber’s plan in Dagestan

On January 6, 2010 an Islamist terrorist tried to detonate a car bomb at a police depot in Dagestan but was stopped by a brave officer.

MAKHACHKALA, RUSSIA – With police getting such a bad rap these days it is helpful to recall that some die in the course of their duties.

What do you do for a living? Does your job put you in any danger? Is there an actual chance you can die while doing what you get paid for? And no, dying from boredom doesn’t count!

For example, spare a thought for health care workers these days. With the COVID-19 virus mutating and spreading in a virulent (!) way, doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers and public health care workers willingly expose themselves to a disease which could kill them. And they do this every day!

This job could actually kill me some day – I pray it does not! (Photo: Province of British Columbia on flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Law enforcement officers are in a similar category. Despite recent campaigns to label every single one of them a flaming racist pig and demands for ‘defunding the police‘, these women and men put their lives on the line every single day. Their job is indeed a very dangerous one and it would be good to keep that in mind. They can, and do, expose themselves to deadly situations so that we don’t have to.

Take today’s featured attack.

On this day in 2010

An Islamist terrorist tried to drive a car packed with explosives into a traffic police depot on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of the Russian region of Dagestan. He failed to fulfill his mission because he was rammed by a police UAZ jeep before he was able to detonate his lethal load.

The police spotted the suspicious car and rammed it from the side after which the explosion took place.

Police spokeperson

Windows were blown out over 200 meters away by bomb, equivalent to about 50-60 kg of TNT, which left a 2.5 meter wide crater in the ground and dozens of police cars lay mangled at the depot. Nevertheless, thanks to the actions of a police officer the death toll was much lower (7 policemen in total were killed and another 20 people were injured). Best to bear that in mind the next time you want to ‘defund’ anything.

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By Phil Gurski

Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. Phil is a 32-year veteran of CSE and CSIS and the author of six books on terrorism.

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