A female suicide bomber posing as a pilgrim killed a top Islamic scholar and at least five others in Russia's restive Muslim region of Dagestan. President Vladimir Putin immediately reacted saying such attacks would fail to undermine Russia's spirit of religious tolerance.
The Caspian Sea region's interior ministry said the attack claimed the life of one of Dagestan's most respected religious leaders who defended moderate Islam against the rise of radical militancy. The ministry said in a statement that a woman "posing as a pilgrim" walked into the home of Said Afandi and detonated a suicide belt. "Six people died besides the suicide bomber," the Dagestani interior ministry said in a statement posted on its website.