MAKHACHKALA, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - A man has been injured in a shootout at a gas station in the turbulent southern Russian republic of Daghestan, local police said.

The incident occurred on the road linking the republic's capital Makhachkala and its second city Derbent late on Wednesday. It is not yet clear what provoked the shooting. A car laden with grenades and other ammunition was discovered at the scene, police said.

Daghestan and Russia's other North Caucasus republics have seen a rise in violence recently linked to militants based in neighboring Chechnya and internal fighting between criminal gangs.