MOSCOW, January 26 (RIA Novosti) - Two explosions have hit Derbent, a town in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a law enforcement spokesman said.

“At about 23:20 Moscow Time on Friday, an explosive device detonated in a car of a local police officer,” the spokesman said. “The officer was not injured.”

He added that a second blast occurred inside a building where the police officer arrived later. No one was reported wounded.

An investigation is underway.

The Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to the republic of Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years. Attacks on security forces, police and civilians are reported regularly in the neighboring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in mid-October that more than 300 terrorists were killed in the North Caucasus “in the past few months.” “Terrorism” in official Russian politics is used loosely and in preference to more neutral terms, such as “insurgency.”

Over a decade after the war against Islamist separatists in Chechnya ended, Russian security forces continue to fight militants in the volatile region.