ZCZC
BFF-39
RUSSIA-CHECHNYA-CRIME-POLICE LEAD
Multiple attacks on police in Chechnya: leader
MOSCOW, Aug 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Armed assailants attacked policemen in
various locations in the Russian republic of Chechnya on Monday, the region’s
leader said, adding that several officers sustained injuries.
One assailant attempted a suicide bombing but failed, Chechen strongman
Ramzan Kadyrov said.
Two policemen were wounded in the town of Shali, and several traffic police
officers sustained injuries in capital Grozny, Kadyrov wrote on his official
Telegram social networking account.
“The bandits have been neutralised,” he added.
Kadyrov, who was visiting Saudi Arabia on Monday, said extremist propaganda
that “confuses the young men” was to blame for the assaults.
“The situation in Grozny and Chechnya is absolutely calm,” he said.
Police in the North Caucasus region said two men armed with knives
attempted to enter the Shali district police department and “inflicted wounds
on two police employees on duty” before being shot dead.
There has been no official explanation of the incident in Grozny. News
agencies cited unnamed sources as saying an assailant ran over three traffic
policemen in his car.
Chechnya’s interior minister Ruslan Alkhanov said the assailants “attempted
to destabilise the situation in Chechnya” but have been stopped. He said no
officers were killed.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1937 hrs