A police chief in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan escaped a roadside assassination attempt today, the regional branch of the interior ministry said. Assailants detonated an explosive device as Colonel Akhmed Magomedov, the head of the criminal police in a district of the capital, Makhachkala, was driving by. He was taken to hospital suffering from several injuries. His three bodyguards were also wounded but their lives are not in danger, Dagestani Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Musayev said. The attack is the latest in a spate of violence targeting officials in the republic. So far, 16 policemen have been killed and another 20 injured in attacks this year, according to the agency.On Tuesday, a bomb exploded near the prosecutor's office in Makhachkala, causing minor damage but no casualties.