MAKHACHKALA, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - An explosive devise was discovered overnight and disabled in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Daghestan, a Federal Security Service (FSB) spokesman said on Tuesday.

The spokesman said that bomb disposal experts had disabled the device, equivalent to 9-12 kg (20-27 lbs) of TNT, using a controlled explosion.

Sporadic terrorist attacks and militant clashes remain rather common in Russia's republics of Ingushetia and Daghestan, as violence spills over from neighboring Chechnya, although the Kremlin has ended its campaign to fight separatists and terrorists there.

In mid-June one person was killed in a bomb blast near the central marketplace in downtown Makhachkala.