The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a shootout with police in Russia’s Chechen republic, the online monitor Site Intelligence Group has reported.
Gunmen opened fire on traffic police in the Chechen capital of Grozny on two separate occasions on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.
Three police officers were killed in the incident, Chechen officials confirmed. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov later said that the attackers had been killed by police.
The number of gunmen involved in the incident has still not been confirmed.
The group stole their weapons from local police officers, the Kavkazsky Uzel news site reported.
Read more from The Moscow Times: The Russians caught between Moscow and the Islamic State
The group stole their weapons from local police officers, the Kavkazsky Uzel news site reported.
The Islamic State earlier claimed responsibility for an attack on Russian traffic police in Moscow in August this year.
Two men armed with guns and axes assaulted officers on the capital’s Schyolkovskoe Shosse, just weeks after the Islamic State released a video urging its followers to carry out terror attacks in Russia.
Some 2,000 Russian nationals were believed to be fighting alongside the group as of July last year, according to the Russian government.
