MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) — Officials in Russia's violence–plagued republic of Dagestan say five soldiers have been killed and about 40 wounded in a suicide car–bomb attack on a Russian base.

A spokesman for the republic's Interior Ministry, Vyacheslav Gasanov, says the attack took place about 1 a.m. Sunday (2100 GMT Saturday) at the base in the city of Buinaksk.

Gasanov said the driver of the explosives–laden small Zhiguli automobile smashed through a gate of the base and headed for an area where soldiers are quartered in tents.

But soldiers opened fire on him before he reached the center of the base. Gasanov said, the driver rammed the car into a military truck where it exploded.

Dagestan is gripped by near–daily violence between police and soldiers and insurgents believed to be inspired by separatists in neighboring Chechnya.