Twin explosions killed a police officer and injured dozens of others as well as civilians in Russia's southern city of Makhachkalay, officials said Thursday.

The explosions within meters of each other rocked the capital of the North Caucasus region of Dagestan after midnight and went off about 500 meters from the offices of Dagestan's interior ministry, a representative of Makhachkala police told Agence France Presse.

Having once been the major power in European and world club football, Italy is rapidly becoming the sick man of Europe in footballing terms.

Only 10 years ago, Italy topped the UEFA country rankings but after Schalke 04 beat reigning champions Inter Milan in the Champions League quarter-finals last season, they dropped below Germany to fourth and lost a place in the Champions League.

Unidentified gunmen on Thursday killed the spokesman of the leader of Russia's unrest-plagued Caucasus region of Dagestan, investigators said.

The attackers fired on Garun Kurbanov, the head of the press service of Dagestan leader Magomedsalam Magomedov just after 8:00 am (04:00 GMT), the Russian investigative committee said in a statement.