Russia - Dagestan Hit by Deadly Blasts - NYTimes.com Two powerful blasts near Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan region, killed as many as 20 people and wounded 30 others near a police post, Russian news media reported Thursday. Dagestan has been caught up in an Islamist insurgency across the mainly Muslim North Caucasus after two separatist wars in Chechnya. The rebels want to create an Islamic state in the region.