At least one police officer has been killed in fighting in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus, officials say.
Gunmen opened fire when police stopped a car for inspection in the town of Uchichken.
“Three rounds of machine gun fire were shot from the car, killing one policeman on the spot as a result,” a spokeswoman for the republic’s police said on Saturday.
Two more police officers were injured.
Security officials in the region are regular targets of Islamist separatists who have been fighting Moscow-backed authorities for years.